A coalition of Georgian observer groups have demanded the annulment of the results of 2024 elections, as Georgian Dream secured a majority amidst widespread reports of electoral violations. Opposition groups accused the government of ‘stealing’ the elections, and promised to challenge the results. 

Read more:

• Georgian Dream win Georgia election as observer group calls for annulment of the vote
• Live updates | Local observers demand annulment of results after Georgian Dream win

Key events from yesterday:

• Official preliminary results show that Georgian Dream has convincingly won Georgia’s parliamentary elections, securing 54% of the vote.
• Opposition groups have yet to announce their plans moving forward. A number of opposition leaders said that there had been widespread election violations and fraud, and promised to challenge the results, with the UNM’s Tina Bokuchava vowing to ‘fight like never before’. 
• There were numerous reports of violations at polling stations across the country, including a significant number observed by OC Media journalists. 

Observer missions to present findings at 14:00 and 15:00

International observer missions will share preliminary findings from their missions this afternoon, with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI) to hold a briefing at 14:00, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at 15:00. 

The elections have been marred by widespread allegations of manipulation and fraud, with Transparency International — Georgia’s Eka Gigauri reportedly stating in the early hours of Sunday that in 24 years of monitoring, the organisation had never seen an election ‘with this level of violations.

‘There were too many issues, and the results are definitely not legitimate’, Gigauri stated.

Estonian MP condemns election results

The Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament, Marko Mihkelson, has stated it is ‘impossible to recognise’ the legitimacy of the Georgian elections. 

Georgia’s 🇬🇪 apparent election result falsification makes it impossible to recognize their legitimacy. By rigging elections, one cannot join the European Union 🇪🇺, but can end up back in Russia’s 🇷🇺 embrace.

— Marko Mihkelson (@markomihkelson) October 26, 2024

Opposition wins in the UK

According to the summary protocol published by RFE/RL, out of 1,335 Georgian citizens who cast ballots, 1,146, or 86%, voted for the opposition. Georgian Dream received 154 votes, or 12% of the vote.  Due to long queues and a lack of registrars, Georgians queued for hours, and the station closed at 22:30 rather than at 20:00.

Local observers demand annulment of the result

In the early hours of Sunday, a coalition of civil society groups set up to observe the 2024 election accused the government of undertaking ‘a complex scheme of election fraud’ and demanded the annulment of the results.

WeVote includes several leading NGOs including Transparency International — Georgia, Georgia’s Reforms Associates (GRASS), the Civil Society Foundation, IDFI, and more. The group sent 2,000 observers to polling stations across the country. 

‘As a result of the analysis of the environment in the pre-election period and the fraud schemes used on the election day, as well as the unprecedented impact on the will of the voters and incidents of violence, we believe that the preliminary results published by the Central Election Commission does not reflect the will of the citizens of Georgia’, the group stated. ‘We will continue to demand the annulment of the election results.’

They added that the election had taken place ‘in the context of serious and substantial violations.’

‘At the end of the day, it became clear that the various problems identified during the monitoring of the election process during the day were part of a larger scheme, the purpose of which was to subvert the final result of the election. It became clear that a complex scheme of election fraud had been developed, for the implementation of which such methods were used as disruption of the verification system, violation of marking procedures and obstruction of observers from observing voter identification procedures. In the first half of the day, two or more ballots were given to voters en masse. Also, there were cases when ballots were already selected in favour of the ruling party.’

‘The ruling party carried out an unprecedented mobilisation of voters by means of vehicles. Unprecedented pressure was exerted on voters. Taking into account that during the pre-election period, voters’ personal information was collected, including their social and family status, a large number of voters were literally hostages of the ruling party’, the group stated.

The group reported that as of 22:30, they had observed the following violations:

• 347 incidents in which the marking of voters with ink was not observed or checked.
• 89 reports of violations of voter secrecy.
• 341 reports of unauthorised people being present.
• 96 instances of physical confrontations/threats/violence.
• 163 cases in which their observers were obstructed.

They found ‘substantial violations’ which could have a ‘significant impact on the free expression of the voter’s will’ in districts where Georgian Dream gained an overwhelmingly strong lead.

They recorded the following violations in the following districts:

• Violation of voting secrecy in Kareli, Batumi, Telavi, Khashuri, Bolnisi, Senaki, Gori, Zugdidi, Chkhorotsku, Marneuli, Kobuleti, Sagarejo, Akhaltsikhe, Kaspi, and Mtskheta.
• Voting instead of someone else and repeatedly  in Marneuli, Gardabani, Zugdidi, Kharagauli, Chkhorotsku, Samgori.
• Impossibility of observing the correctness of the verification process and the registrar’s activities in Gurjaani, Sighnaghi, Rustavi, Gardabani, Samtredia, Chugureti, Sighnaghi, Dedoplistskaro, Isani, Senaki.
• Handing out more than one ballot per voter and/or placing it in a box in Gurjaani, Dedoplistskaro, Telavi, Rustavi, Batumi, Senaki, Lagodekhi, Tbilisi, Batumi, Khelvachauri, Kobuleti, Mestia, Akhaltsikhe, Aspindza, Gori, Kareli, and Khashuri.
• Physical violence in Marneuli, Gldani, Isni, Marneuli and Zugdidi.
• Pressuring voters in Kharagauli, Chiatura, Akhalkalaki, Khashuri, Mtskheta, Kaspi, Kareli, Khashuri, and Gori.
• Damage to mobile ballot boxes and ballots in Vake, Saburtalo, Samgori, Ozurgeti, Rustavi, Khashuri electoral districts.
• Not implementing ballot marking procedures in Gldani, Isani, Samgori, Marneuli, Kaspi, Gori, Zugdidi, Marneuli, Batumi, and Mtskheta.
• Agitation by the members of the commission - in Gori, Marneuli, Bolnisi, and Kutaisi.
• Disrupting the activities of observers and expelling them in Marneuli, Senaki, Gardabani, Kobuleti, and Sagarejo.
• Ballot-stuffing in Marneuli.

Georgian Dream secures 54% of vote

With 99% of the votes counted, official Central Election Commission (CEC) results gave the ruling Georgian Dream party a majority of 54%. While this falls short of the constitutional majority that the party had vowed to secure, it gives the ruling party a comfortable lead over the opposition, which received around 40% of the total vote. 

Other parties received:

• Coalition for Change: 11%
• Unity - National Movement: 10%
• Strong Georgia: 8.7%
• For Georgia: 7.7%
• Girchi: 3%
• Alliance of Patriots: 2.5%

Turnout when polls closed at 20:00 was 59%.