TBILISI (AFP) – Several thousand Georgians protested in Tbilisi over alleged election rigging by the governing party and foreign interference in last month’s Parliament election, which the opposition denounced as “stolen”.
The pro-Western opposition has refused to recognise the ruling Georgian Dream party’s win in the October 26 election or to enter the newly elected Parliament, which it calls “illegitimate”.
The European Union (EU) and the United States blasted “irregularities” in the vote.
Protesters gathered outside Georgia’s Parliament, blocking traffic on Tbilisi’s main road, after opposition groups called on supporters to take to the streets.
“The Georgian people will never accept falsified election results, an invincible protest movement is rising up and it will sweep away the regime, which has stolen our votes,” the leader of the Akhali party, Nika Melia, told the crowd.
Leader of the Coalition for Change Mamuka Khazaradze said: “We demand a fresh vote, an international investigation into election falsification, and we will not surrender until our objectives are met.”
President Salome Zurabishvili – who is at loggerheads with the governing party – also called the vote “illegitimate” and with foreign interference.
“We have no choice but to take to the streets every day to show our government and the world that Georgians will never put up with rigged elections,” one of the demonstrators, 25-year-old shop assistant Lidia Kirtadze, told AFP.
Protesters have accused Georgian Dream of derailing the country’s goal of joining the EU.
Ahead of the election, Brussels had warned it would determine Georgia’s chances of joining the bloc.
“The situation following the elections remains concerning,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told Zurabishvili during a phone call.
“If Georgia wants to keep a strategic orientation towards the EU, we need concrete actions from the leadership,” she said on X.
