Georgia's ruling party claims election victory as pro-EU opposition disputes results

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect comments made by party officials and world leaders following the preliminary results.

Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party captured 54.3% of the vote in the Oct. 26 parliamentary election, with over 99% of precincts counted, according to the country's central electoral commission.

The commission reported that the final voter turnout reached 58.94%. Some 3.5 million Georgians were eligible to cast ballots in the polls.

“It is a rare case in the world that the same party achieves such success in such a difficult situation – this is a good indicator of the talent of the Georgian people,” oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said following the results.

Ivanishvili is Georgia's richest man, with an estimated net worth of almost $5 billion. He made the bulk of his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, and has sought to lead Georgia towards closer relations with Russia.

As part of a campaign promise ahead of the elections, on Sept. 14 Ivanishvili declared that Georgia should "apologize" for Russia's 2008 war against the country.

Despite the official results, Georgian opposition parties refused to recognize the results — instead claiming victory in the election pointing to election monitors reporting various violations across the country, including ballot stuffing and voter intimidation.

"We are outraged by what the central (election) commission dared to write. The results do not reflect the will of the Georgian people," Anna Dolidze, leader of the opposition "For the People" party said. "We (will) fight for every vote, use all legal means to protect the democratic and European choice of the Georgian people."

Exit polls commissioned by pro-opposition outlets Formula and Mtavari Arkhi showed that opposition parties would hold enough seats to form the majority, while government-leaning Imedi TV channel said the Georgian Dream party would win a majority with 56% of the vote, according to the Guardian.

“The exit polls are showing an impressive 10% margin of victory for the opposition. We believe the Georgian public has voted clearly for a future at the heart of Europe and no amount of posturing will change that,” said Tina Bokuchava, leader of the largest opposition party, the United National Movement.

The European Union has cautioned that this election will shape Georgia’s prospects for joining the 27-nation bloc. Polls indicate that most Georgians support EU membership, but accession talks stalled after Georgian Dream passed a law in June that restricts freedom of speech.

Less than an hour before polls closed, President Salome Zourabichvili, known for her pro-Western stance, urged opposition voters not to be intimidated. "Don't get scared. All this is just psychological pressure on you," she said in a live address on social media.

Ahead of the announcement of the official results by Georgia's central electoral commission, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has also been accused of holding pro-Russian views, congratulated Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on his re-election.

Opinion: With elections ahead, Georgia stands between Russia and the West

Two years ago, a Georgian pro-Kremlin fringe channel aired a fabricated story featuring photoshopped images of several NGO representatives, including myself, in handcuffs at a fictional trial. This scenario, supposedly the result of a meeting between then-Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili…

The Kyiv IndependentTamar Kintsurashvili