Skip next section Georgia election turnout reaches 50%, election commission says
10/26/2024October 26, 2024
Georgia election turnout reaches 50%, election commission says
Central Election Commission (CEC) said over 1.7 million people have already cast their votes in Saturday’s parliamentary election.
The CEC said that by 5 p.m. local time (13:00 UTC/GMT), the turnout was 50.6%. This compares with 22% at noon.
The commission said polling would close at 8 p.m., but that any voter still queuing after that time would be allowed to cast their ballot.
Some 3.5 million Georgians are eligible to vote in the election.
https://p.dw.com/p/4mGkp
Skip next section Georgian president decries violence, disruption at polling stations
10/26/2024October 26, 2024
Georgian president decries violence, disruption at polling stations
President Salome Zurabishvili denounced incidents of violence during the parliamentary election after footage circulated on social media showing confrontations at several polling stations.
“I want to highlight the deeply troubling incidents of violence unfolding at various polling stations,” she said.
One video showed a fistfight between dozens of unidentified men outside a polling station in the capital, Tbilisi.
The opposition also shared videos of an alleged ballot stuffing incident in the south-eastern village of Sadakhlo, which the chair of the United National Movement opposition party, Tina Bokuchava, said was proof that “Ivanishvili’s thugs are desperate to cling onto power and will resort to anything to subvert the election process.”
The Central Election Commission said it had received 133 reports of violations.
In another incident reported by the Interpressnews news agency, a man threw several ballot papers into a polling station in the small southeastern town of Marneuli, disrupting voting.
The commission said the results in the polling station would not be counted.
Bokuchkova said the provocation was organized by the ruling Georgian Dream party because the opposition would have won in the constituency.
However, a representative of Georgian Dream blamed the opposition, which it said had paid the man to carry out the stunt to portray the election as illegitimate.
https://p.dw.com/p/4mGiq
Skip next section Georgian president: ‘Georgia is going to win the elections’
10/26/2024October 26, 2024
Georgian president: ‘Georgia is going to win the elections’
DW correspondent Maria Katamadze, reporting from the capital Tbilisi, caught Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili on the street after she had cast her ballot Saturday. Asked whether she was confident that she would win, Zourabichvili said: “I’m not going to win the elections. Georgia is going to win the elections.”
Katamadze posted the exchange on X, writing: “Pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili has just casted her ballot in #Tbilisi and is confident that the opposition is going to secure a victory.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4mG9j
Skip next section What’s at stake?
10/26/2024October 26, 2024
What’s at stake?
Much is at stake in the parliamentary elections in Georgia this year
For the ruling Georgian Dream party, a fourth straight term would cement its position and allow it to make further legislative changes. It aims to obtain three-quarters of the parliamentary seats to introduce a constitutional ban on the main opposition party, the United National Movement.
The government has passed a series of controversial bills, including a law requiring groups that receive funds from abroad to register as foreign agents. The law led to by the opposition parties which believe it to be similar to ones in Russia used to
Hanging in the balance is also the country’s EU membership.
The EU gave Georgia membership candidate status last December but its application to join the bloc remains frozen as the country regresses on press freedom, and .
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Skip next section What you need to know about Georgia’s parliamentary election
10/26/2024October 26, 2024
What you need to know about Georgia’s parliamentary election
Polling stations opened to voters on Saturday in the South Caucasus country of for a parliamentary election which is widely seen as
Around 3.5 million Georgians are eligible to cast ballots, as per Reuters.
Russia ruled over Georgia some two centuries ago and backs two rebel regions which broke away from the nation in the 1990s. Russia defeated Georgia in a five-day war in 2008. Many Georgians, hence, dislike Russia.
However, the country’s ruling party — Georgian Dream, which is seeking a fourth term — has changed its tune to more pro-Russian rhetoric in the past two years. It has accused the West of trying to drag Georgia into .
Led by billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, the party has campaigned on keeping Georgia out of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Ivanishvili is the country’s richest man and widely regarded as its most powerful person.
Meanwhile opposition parties call this shift a betrayal of Georgia’s European future. The four main opposition parties aim to form a coalition to oust the Georgian Dream from power and put the nation back on its track for an .
Opinion polls ahead of the election have shown contradicting results. Media channels in support of the opposition predict the Georgian Dream will lose its majority while those who support the ruling party predict its strongest ever performance.
As for what’s on the voters’ mind, polls largely show that Georgians are and but also want to avoid conflict with Russia.
mk/wd (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)
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