Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has called for a protest against the election results today in central Tbilisi, urging people to ‘stand together’ and not to recognise the results.

Key events from yesterday:

• President Salome Zourabichvili called the elections ‘completely rigged’, stating that recognising their results would be the equivalent of recognising ‘Russia’s entry here’.
• Zourabichvili called for a protest at 19:00 on central Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. Georgia’s Parliament is on Rustaveli Avenue.
• Three of the four  opposition groupings who have managed to secure seats in parliament have vowed not to take up their mandates. 
• Several election monitoring missions have highlighted widespread accounts and reports of violations at voting stations across the country.
• EU Council President Charles Michel posted on X that the council will ‘assess’ its relations with Georgia at its informal meeting in Budapest next month.

Papuashvili demands ISFED make the results of their parallel count public

Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has called on the election observer organisation ISFED to publish their results, accusing the organisation of  hiding data.

‘We demand that the ISFED make the results of the parallel counting fully public’, he said.

Zourabichvili and Sandu discuss Georgia’s elections

President Salome Zourabichvili held a phone call with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, during which they discussed Georgia’s parliamentary elections.

I just spoke with @Zourabichvili_S following Georgia's elections.

Moldova stands with all Georgians fighting for freedom, democracy and a European future.

— Maia Sandu (@sandumaiamd) October 28, 2024

According to the presidential administration, Zourabichvili then called the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda. 

Russian propagandist calls Georgian emigrants ‘exiles and traitors’

According to Formula, Kremlin propagandist Aleksandr Dugin has called emigrant Georgians ‘exiles’ and ‘traitors’, claiming that their votes should not count. 

‘The place of liberals is in clinics and isolation centres, not at polling stations. First they have to go through face control, through OSINT and only after that they should be allowed to vote. And that too only for the Georgian Dream or for some even better, pro-Georgian and solid [party]. We need to open training courses on how to vote correctly and only after completing the course hand over the responsible voter passport’, he said.

UK supports OSCE/ODIHR preliminary findings

The Minister for Europe, North America and UK Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, has stated that the UK supports the OSCE/ODIHR’s preliminary findings on the Georgian parliamentary elections, noting that the UK contributed 50 short-term observers to the monitoring mission.

Citing ‘the misuse of administrative resources, a highly polarised campaign environment, as well as widespread intimidation and coercion against voters’, Doughty claimed that these were ‘not the actions of an open, democratic society and run contrary to international standards’. 

‘The Georgian authorities must investigate all irregularities and reverse this declining commitment to democracy. We will be monitoring this closely together with our international partners, and stand ready to support’, he added.

Papuashvili calls Zourabichvili’s post-election statement ‘disinformation’

The Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, has given a briefing about ‘disinformation related to the elections’.

He blamed President Salome Zourabichvili and the opposition for being ‘stupid because before they were clinging to some ballots, paper, now they are fighting with technology’.

‘They do not even realise that they are in the 21st century, they [fought] technology that cannot be blamed [...] This is absolute stupidity to do’, he said.

‘Their main problem is that they think they are above the Georgian people and they think the Georgian people are stupid. They failed to fool even their own supporters and lost 62,000 voters. Of course, they cannot fool the entire population’, he added.

EU Parliament's EPP Group: the EU ‘will not just stand by and let the fraud happen’

The EU Parliament’s European People’s Party (EPP) Group's spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Michael Gahler, has declared that the EU will ‘not just stand by and let the fraud happen’, following Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili’s announcement yesterday evening that the elections were ‘completely rigged’. 

With the strong statement of the Georgian president not recognising the election result, the EU will not just stand by and let the fraud happen, while Orban sides with the fraudsters. The Russian proxies way of falsifying elections behind a legal Potemkin facade must not succeed.

— Michael Gahler (@gahler_michael) October 28, 2024

Estonian President: ‘Estonia stands with the Georgian people’

Estonian President Alar Karis has noted ‘very alarming concerns’ about the Georgian elections being ‘free and fair’, while highlighting that ‘Estonia stands firmly with the Georgian people’ and President Zourabichvili. 

Estonia has always supported the European dream of the Georgian people. Very alarming concerns have been raised about the elections being free and fair. Democracy thrives on trust. Every vote counts, and every voice matters.

— Alar Karis (@AlarKaris) October 28, 2024

Armenian observers: Georgian elections ‘marred by significant violations’

The Armenian Independent Observer alliance has highlighted in their preliminary statement that the Georgian parliamentary elections ‘were marred by significant violations, which overshadow the credibility of the election results’.

The statement noted that their observers were hindered in three polling stations. They stated that in polling station #4 in Marneuli, their observer was ‘physically assaulted when he tried to film the situation’, and the mission was ‘forced to cease monitoring at the site’.

‘The mission noticed a number of steps taken by representatives of the Georgian Dream party and election commissions, which aimed to reduce the confidence of voters in the secrecy of voting: starting from the shape and location of polling booths to the ruling party’s installation of cameras at polling stations and spreading disinformation about other forms of controlling the vote’, read the statement.

In several stations, their observers saw that before entering their voting booth, voters approached a Georgian Dream representative in the area, who made notes on their list.

‘During the pre-election period and on the voting day, the mission received numerous credible reports on voter buying, and the use of administrative resources for voter intimidation, which was sometimes coupled with the collection of voter identification (ID) cards’.

Norway ‘concerned’ by OSCE/ODIHR report

The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Barth Eide, has stated he is ‘concerned’ by the OSCE/ODIHR elections report documenting ‘numerous irregularities, pressure on voters, intimidation, and an unlevel playing field’. 

‘Uncertainties relating to the integrity of [the] electoral process undermine confidence and must be addressed’, he added. 

Russian far-right organisation expresses support for Georgian Dream

Russkaya Obshchina, a Russian far-right group, has accused Russian liberals and supporters of former President Mikheil Saakashvili of being ‘non-humans’ who want the death of Russians and Georgians. 

They’ve openly expressed support for Georgian Dream, stating that ‘we, the Russian people living in Georgia, are firmly determined to the end and to the best of our ability to help and facilitate the establishment of our dear brothers, friends of Russia, in parliament.’

‘Now our coordinator is waiting for a signal from the headquarters of the Georgian Dream, be prepared to enter into a real fight for Georgia’, they said.

Swedish Foreign Minister ‘seriously concerned’ by election irregularities

Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Maria Stenergard, has written that she is ‘seriously concerned’ about the irregularities reported by OSCE/ODIHR and other observers in Georgia’s elections, calling on the Georgian authorities to ‘credibly address these concerns’. 

Seriously concerned by the irregularities in Georgia’s elections reported by OSCE/ODIHR and other observers.

To restore trust I urge Georgian authorities to credibly address these concerns in an inclusive political process.

We are ready to work on Georgia’s European…

— Maria M Stenergard (@MariaStenergard) October 27, 2024

Zakharova criticises Zourabichvili and Georgia’s ‘European future’

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has responded to President Salome Zourabichvili’s statement yesterday evening, which called the recognition of the election results tantamount to recognising ‘Georgia’s subordination to Russia’ and emphasised that it was ‘not possible for anyone to take away Georgia’s European future’.

In her response, Zakharova criticised the concept of a ‘European future’, claiming that Washington had ‘taken away’ such a concept from the EU by ‘luring away business leaders’ and causing mass illegal migration due to their ‘American ventures in the Middle East and North Africa’.

‘Therefore, it is simply stupid to believe that the EU can bestow a “European future” on anyone else […] As long as countries and peoples think for themselves, and do not unquestioningly follow the orders of their Washington curators, they have a future’, she said. 

She also questioned how a ‘Georgian future’ was worse than a European one, citing comments from Zourabichvili’s cousin, the French politician Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, who called the EU an ‘authoritarian organisation’.

Polish Foreign Minister calls on Europe to stand with Georgians

The Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radek Sikorski, has called on Europe to ‘stand with the Georgian people’ following Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili’s announcement that the elections were ‘completely rigged’. 

The President of Georgia has announced that the parliamentary elections were falsified. Europe must now stand with the Georgian people.

— Radek Sikorski (@radeksikorski) October 27, 2024

Polish MPs note multiple election violations in Bolnisi

Members of the Polish parliamentary observation mission to Georgia have given a statement to OC Media about their assessment of the conduct of the elections based on their first-hand observations at polling stations in Tbilisi and Bolnisi.

The Polish MPs noted multiple violations, including the presence of ‘people actively campaigning’ in the immediate vicinity of polling stations in and around Bolnisi.

‘In each of the polling stations in the Bolnisi region — both inside and outside — there was a ruling party coordinator who made no secret at all of the fact that their role was to carry out election coordination. We have photographic documentation that these coordinators drew up lists of people to be brought by specific people to the polling station at a specific time. Next to the names of these people were addresses, telephone numbers, and the person responsible for bringing these people to the polling station’, MP Marek Rząsa, the mission’s coordinator, told OC Media.

‘We express far-reaching concern about the democratic nature of the electoral process and the conviction that the election results do not fully reflect the will of Georgian society’, Rząsa said.

‘I would like to express the hope that the Georgian people will be able to find enough strength within themselves to ensure that these elections can provide Georgians with the kind of future they deserve, the kind of future they hope for, in a peaceful, transparent, fair, and democratic manner’, he added.

Latvian President in solidarity with Zourabichvili

The President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has shared his ‘full solidarity with the people of Georgia and President Zourabichvili’ in a post on X. 

Georgian people have European dream, no one has the right to steal this dream through intimidation and manipulation. Full solidarity with the people of Georgia and President @Zourabichvili_S 🇱🇻 🤝 🇬🇪

— Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkevics) October 27, 2024

Lithuania: ‘difficult to recognise these elections as free and fair’

Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared that in the context of an ‘unprecedented number of incidents and systematic violations […] Lithuania finds it difficult to recognize these elections as ‘free and fair’, citing Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili’s refusal to accept the election results. 

‘We believe that the EU will continue its political contacts with Georgia suspended, and its financial assistance to [the] Georgian Government frozen. Moreover, additional restrictive measures against those responsible for fraudulent elections must be considered without further delay’, they added.

Czechia concerned about election irregularities

The Czech Foreign Ministry has posted on X that they are ‘concerned about reported irregularities’ during the parliamentary elections on Saturday and called on the Georgian authorities to ‘honour democratic values and reverse the actions that threaten Georgia's European direction’.

Czechia is concerned about reported irregularities during the parliamentary elections in Georgia. We are closely following the situation in the country. We call on all sides to refrain from violence.

— Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs (@CzechMFA) October 27, 2024

Borrell calls on authorities to investigate ‘electoral irregularities’

The European Commission and its Vice-President Josep Borrell have released a joint statement calling on Georgia’s Central Election Commission and ‘other relevant authorities’ to ‘fulfil their duty to swiftly, transparently, and independently investigate and adjudicate electoral irregularities and allegations thereof’. 

They further called on Georgia to ‘adopt democratic, comprehensive, and sustainable reforms, in line with the core principles of European integration’ and emphasised that ‘any legislation that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Georgian citizens and runs counter to the values and principles upon which the EU is founded, must be repealed’.

US Senator Ben Cardin: reports from observers ‘troubling’ and ‘disappointing’

The Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Ben Cardin, has called the reports from international and domestic observers — which highlighted that ‘Georgia’s Election Day was marred by violence, intimidation, exclusion of accredited observers from polling stations, and inconsistent application of procedures’ — ‘troubling’ and ‘disappointing’.

He added that he would continue to ‘closely monitor’ the post-election environment and would ‘work with the Biden-Harris administration to determine the appropriate response in the US-Georgian relationship’.

Blinken calls on Georgian political leaders to ‘respect the rule of law’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Georgia’s political leaders to ‘respect the rule of law’ and move Georgia ‘towards its Euro-Atlantic future’. 

The Georgian people embraced democracy yesterday. Now Georgia’s political leaders must respect the rule of law, repeal legislation that undermines fundamental freedoms, address deficiencies in the electoral process, and move Georgia toward its Euro-Atlantic future.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 28, 2024

In a more detailed press statement, Blinken stated that Saturday’s turnout demonstrated the ‘Georgian people’s embrace of democracy’. He highlighted that international and local observers agreed that election day was ‘generally well-administered’, but called for a ‘full investigation of all reports of election-related violations’.