Pro-Western opposition groups in Georgia have refused to accept results that hand victory to the increasingly authoritarian ruling party, after a pivotal election focused on the country’s future path in Europe.
The Georgian Dream party of billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili claimed outright victory and the central election commission said it had won 54% of the vote based on more than 99% districts counted.
The initial results were dramatically different from exit polls conducted by Western pollsters.
Tina Bokuchava of the opposition United National Movement said the elections had been falsified and the vote “stolen from the Georgian people”.
Another opposition leader, Nika Gvaramia, said Georgian Dream had mounted a “constitutional coup”, while analysts said its increased vote share from four years ago was scarcely credible.
Both Georgian Dream and the four pro-EU opposition groups trying to end its 12 years in power had earlier claimed victory based on competing exit polls.
Voters turned out in big numbers on Saturday in this South Caucasus state bordering Russia, and there were numerous reports of vote violations and violence outside polling stations.
One opposition official in a town south of the capital Tbilisi told the BBC that he was beaten up first by a local Georgian Dream councillor, and then “another 10 men came and I didn’t know what was happening to me”.
A coalition of 2,000 election observers called My Vote said given the scale of vote-fraud and violence it did not believe the preliminary results “reflect the will of Georgian citizens”.
The opposition has described this high-stakes vote as a choice between Europe or Russia. Many saw the vote as the most crucial since Georgians backed independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
