Georgia: thousands protest election result
After tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Tbilisi on Monday against the contested result of the Georgian parliamentary elections, a portion of the votes are now to be recounted. The country's Central Election Commission had officially declared the national-conservative ruling party Georgian Dream the winner with 54 percent, but the opposition is accusing the government of vote rigging. Commentators discuss the next steps.
A country at a crossroads
La Stampa comments:
“Georgians who take to the streets against electoral fraud have two options: they can be crushed as the Belarusians were in 2020, or they can bring about a new election, as the Ukrainians did with the Orange Revolution in 2004, which marked the country's breakaway from the Russian system. ... The main element of this system is the immutability and inviolability of power in a clientelistic oligarchy that turns citizens into subjects.... The Georgians on the street fear that Ivanishvili [founder of the Georgian Dream party] will be willing to exchange the European prospects for his continued grip on power and opt for an authoritarianism that will inevitably bring Tbilisi into Putin's orbit.”
Everything will continue as before
Tikhon Dzyadko, editor-in-chief of the exile TV channel Dozhd, explains in a Telegram post picked up by Echo:
“The elections in Georgia are a lesson for every authoritarian government in how to conduct elections so as to demoralise opponents and ensure a solid result. ... With no visible violations that could be presented in the opposition and independent media, the ruling party has declared that it has won a majority and will continue as before. ... This does not convey the impression that the Georgian government is about to change its pro-Russian course. Everything will continue more or less the same as before the elections – no one has abandoned the desire to sit on several chairs at the same time.”
Extremely cynical
With his visit to Georgia and congratulations regarding the election result, Hungarian Prime Minister and current EU Council President Viktor Orbán is acting entirely in Russia's interests, writes Magyar Hang:
“Orbán's hasty trip to Georgia and his Facebook comment that the country is basically just 'a conservative, Christian and pro-European country' are particularly cynical. ... It's no wonder that according to the Russian state news agency a Kremlin spokesman was able to dismiss the Georgian issue by saying that, unlike many European organisations (e.g. election observation missions), Moscow did not want to have a say in what was happening in Tbilisi.”
Vague condemnation not enough
The Daily Telegraph disapproves of the West's passive stance:
“The West has - once again - looked like a helpless bystander. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken only issued a vague condemnation of 'contraventions to international norms' on the day of the vote and did not initiate any punitive measures against the GD. The EU called for a probe into Georgia's election 'irregularities' while its rotating president Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán - albeit acting on his own initiative - travelled to Tbilisi to congratulate the GD on its triumph. ... This passivity is a tragic continuity in the West's policy towards Georgia.”
Playing on fears of Russia
Fear of Putin is one of the factors behind the success of Georgian Dream, political scientist Abbas Gallyamov comments on Facebook:
“'No to war, vote for peace' - this was the slogan of the Georgian pro-Putin party. As in the last elections in Hungary, pro-Russian forces in the Caucasus are playing on people's fear of war with the slogan: anyone who criticises Putin will drag you into a war with him, so vote for us and we'll reach a deal with Moscow somehow. The success of this strategy in no way reflects the popularity of Putin or his policies. It speaks only of the people's desire to avoid a confrontation with Russia.”
Time to grow up
The democratic opposition in Georgia can only win if it focuses on exerting influence within the system, writes political strategist Ruslan Rokhov on Facebook:
“Yes, Georgian Dream has systematically used all the forbidden techniques, but the opposition has been incapable of countering this. Unfortunately, the only option left for the opposition is a revolution. But that won't happen under the current circumstances, because Georgia has Russia on its border. I repeat for the umpteenth time: children, teenagers and young people are rebelling, but adults are exerting systemic influence! It's time to grow up and start exerting systemic political influence. Otherwise, the pro-Russian forces and autocrats will win.”
Orbán's betrayal of Europe
The Hungarian leader is travelling to Georgia today to celebrate an anti-European development, Corriere della Sera writes in outrage:
“Orbán is currently the rotating president of the EU, and that makes his gesture, which applauds the enemies of Europe and can only be described as betrayal, extremely serious. A betrayal of the EU, its values and the alliances that bind its destiny. With his visit to Tbilisi, Orbán has definitely let his mask slip: on top of the shame of the illiberal democracy he has created in his country, he is now adding the mockery of an open challenge to Europe's international reputation. He is a friend of Putin and his friends. The European countries can no longer stand idly by.”
Europeans must get involved
Experts on European and geopolitical affairs call on the EU to stand up for Moldova and Georgia in a guest article in La Libre Belgique:
“Europeans must definitively assert their status as a committed partner for the region, building on the efforts made since February 2022. One of the EU's best instruments for exerting their influence is the European Political Community. ... The next meeting will take place in Budapest, on Viktor Orbán's terrain. ... This will be a real test for the cohesion of the 27 member states, which need to present a united front in the event of electoral fraud and protests in Moldova and Georgia. Because in the absence of European leadership in the short and medium term, and given the risk of US disengagement, Russia and China will continue to push their way into these countries.”
EU in a dilemma
Supporters of the opposition could end up being doubly punished, taz surmises:
“The brutality used by the police and security forces against demonstrators is well known. The EU is also in a dilemma. The accession process is already on ice. As things stand now, this is likely to remain so for the time being if Brussels wants to save face. Worse still, further sanctions are on the horizon, such as the abolition of visa-free travel. Even if this step seems necessary from an EU perspective, the young generation in particular would be penalised a second time after the elections. Do we seriously want this? The answer is clearly: No!”