Georgia ruling party faces 'constitutional coup' claims

Pro-Putin Georgian Dream beats EU-aligned oppostition in election with ballot-stuffing, bribery and voter intimidation

- FELIX LIGHT

The ruling Georgian Dream party received more than 54 per cent of the vote in Georgia's parliamentary election on Saturday, the electoral commission said yesterday, though the outcome was disputed by opposition parties.

The result, with more than 99 per cent of precincts counted, deals a blow to pro-Western Georgians who had cast the vote as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with the European Union.

Three separate monitoring missions – the 57-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), US non-profit groups the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute, and a Georgian election monitor – reported significant violations during Saturday’s vote.

The violations, including ballot-stuffing, bribery, voter intimidation and physical violence near polling stations, could have had an impact on the results, the groups said yesterday. However, the three monitoring missions stopped short of saying the elections had been stolen or falsified – claims on which opposition groups doubled down yesterday.