Georgia’s pro-Western opposition has announced they do not recognise the ruling party’s claim of victory in crucial parliamentary elections which took place on October 26. 

“This was massive scale voter fraud in broad daylight,” the international spokesman for the Unity coalition’s United National Movement (UNM) party, Alexandre Crevaux-Asatiani, told bne IntelliNews. “This symbolises that Georgia Dream doesn’t care about Georgia; all it cares about is solidifying its own power.”

On the morning of October 27 the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) published official results showing Georgian Dream (GD) took 54.8% of the vote and the top four opposition coalitions collectively garnered around 37%. These included Coalition for Change (11%), Unity (10%), Strong Georgia (9%), and For Georgia (8%).

Members of the opposition have accused Georgian Dream of stealing a win and using electoral violations and vote rigging to ensure their continued power, which has become increasingly authoritarian in recent months. 

“We do not recognise these results. We are not alone in this, every other opposition force shares the same position,” Crevaux-Asatiani said. Opposition parties have called for continuous demonstrations which are expected to begin on October 28.

The CEC, meanwhile, claims the victory to be legitimate. “The elections took place in a free and fair environment, and were in accordance with international standards,” said CEC chairman Giorgi Kalandarishvili in a post-election assessment. 

“These so-called results [from the CEC] represent a stolen, manipulated election that has nothing to with the reality, which was a lot closer to the exit polls which showed the opposition winning with up to 60% of the vote,” said Crevaux-Asatiani.

There is a huge discrepancy between CEC figures and independent exit polls. According to Edison Research data, opposition parties won 52% of votes collectively and beat GD, which took 41%. 

A chart showing the Edison exit poll on the GD vote vs the CEC count in previous elections and October 26 election. This is the first time such large discrepancy between the two counts has occurred.

Local election watchdog, WeVote, has reported a “complex scheme of election fraud” including “serious and substantial violations”, referring to widespread reports on Saturday of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, pre-marked ballots and other breaches of the voting process. 

The OSCE Observation Mission is one of several international organisations to have issued initial assessments, in which it confirmed cases of voter intimidation and declared a “failure of basic democratic standards”.

“We know these elections were rigged,” said UNM spokesman Crevaux-Asatiani. “We saw countless cases of ballot stuffing, of criminal networks hovering around precincts to intimidate voters, of violence inside precincts, beating people up in opposition strongholds, people voting several times, people voting with others’ ids. None of these reports were responded to by the election authorities.”

“We do not recognise the results of these elections,” said Coalition for Change’s Nika Gvaramia, “this is a usurpation of the Georgian government and constitutional coup. Georgian Dream will have to recognise the victory of the opposition”. At a briefing on October 27, Gvaramia also described a “technological system” his coalition has discovered which was used by GD to manipulate the election results.

Similarly, Crevaux-Asatiani spoke of a “special operation” targeting opposition votes, where “400,000 votes disappeared from the opposition and ended up in GD’s camp”.

“We are enraged by what the CEC dared to publish,” said Ana Dolidze, one of the leaders of Strong Georgia, “these numbers are contrary to the historical and today’s choice of the Georgian people, we will not give away their choice.” 

For Georgia's Natia Mezvrishvili told bne Intellinews that the elections were “definitely rigged”, based on evidence gathered. 

“During the pre-election campaign as well as on election day we have identified large-scale violations having an influence on the election results,” Mezvrishvili said, listing numerous violations including threats and violence against its members and supporters, restrictions on the media, obstruction of campaigning in various regions, illegal surveillance, vote buying, intimidation of voters, ballot stuffing and carousel voting. 

“Based on those violations, which are quite large-scale, we believe these results don’t reflect the will of the voters,” said Mezvrishvili. 

Opposition party leaders have vowed to challenge the ruling party’s victory and protect the will of Georgian citizens to pursue a path of Euro-Atlantic integration. 

Representatives from all four coalitions met on October 27 with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is due to make a statement later this evening to explain what will happen next. “The pro-European groups are working together with the president. We have a plan for the way forward,” Coalition for Change wrote on social media. “The next step is coordination,” Crevaux-Asatiani insisted.

The pro-Western opposition have so far been unable to unite under a single coalition and lack a leading figure, although all four coalitions which surpassed the 5% voting threshold are signatories of President Zourabichvili’s Georgian Charter, the goal of which is to consolidate the pro-European opposition under a symbolic banner.

GD’s victory has also been met with international accusations of illegitimacy, with the head of the European Parliament delegation, Antonio Lopez-Isturiz White has called the elections “a campaign to undermine and manipulate the vote … a sophisticated, widespread and well-orchestrated scheme.”

The alleged manipulation of the voting process by the ruling party is yet another instance of “democratic backsliding” in Georgia, which has been a major concern of the EU over the past months. The union granted the South Caucasus nation candidate status last December but has since revoked the promise of EU membership following several pieces of repressive and illiberal legislation passed by GD, namely the controversial “foreign agent” law which caused countrywide protests in spring of this year.

“If Georgian Dream retains power, unfortunately there will be a return to an era or deep isolation for Georgia," said Crevaux-Asatiani. "The EU has said they will not meet with anyone from GD, they will remove the visa free agreement, and the US will sanction those responsible for harming our democracy.”