Polls close in Georgia’s election that could take it toward the EU or into Russia’s orbit

People get their ballots at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 26 October 2024.

Polls closed in Georgia Saturday after an election many citizens saw as a make-or-break vote on the opportunity to join the European Union.

The pre-election campaign in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people which borders Russia was dominated by foreign policy and marked by a bitter fight for votes and allegations of a smear campaign.

The outcome of the election will determine whether Georgia gets back on track to EU membership or embraces authoritarianism and falls into Russia’s orbit.

Some Georgians complained of intimidation and being pressured to vote for the ruling party, Georgian Dream, while the opposition accused the party of carrying out a “hybrid war” against its citizens.

A video shared on social media Saturday showed a man stuffing ballots into a box at a polling station in the town of Marneuli, 42 kilometres south of Tbilisi.

Georgia’s Interior Ministry said it launched an investigation and the Central Election Commission said a criminal case had been opened and that all results from the polling station would be declared invalid.

Ahead of the parliamentary election, Bidzina Ivanishvili — a shadowy billionaire who set up Georgian Dream and made his fortune in Russia — vowed again to ban opposition parties should his party win.

Georgian Dream will hold opposition parties “fully accountable under the full force of the law” for “war crimes” committed against the people of Georgia, Ivanishvili said at a pro-government rally in the capital, Tbilisi, Wednesday. He did not explain what crimes he believes the opposition has committed.


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