Ruling party leads Georgian election; opposition says vote 'stolen'

The Georgian opposition is refusing to recognize the preliminary results of Saturday's parliamentary election, which show the national-conservative ruling party leading with 70% of the votes counted.

The election commission said Georgian Dream - which favours co-operation with Russia - is leading with 53% of the vote, securing an absolute majority.

The Unity electoral alliance, which includes the opposition United National Movement, reportedly received around 10% of votes, behind the Coalition for Change camp on around 11%.

Four pro-European opposition blocs that surpassed the 5% threshold collectively accounted for some 38% of the vote, according to the election commission.

Speaking in the capital Tbilisi, Tinatin Bokuchkva, the leader of the United National Movement, charged late Saturday that the election commission had "carried out the dirty work of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili."

Ivanishvili, 68, is the founder and honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, which favours cooperation with Russia.

He had already started celebrating his party's victory shortly after the polling stations closed.

The pro-Western opposition alliance, the Coalition for Change, also declared that it would not recognize the results. "The elections have been stolen from the opposition. This is a constitutional coup and an abuse of power," politician Nika Gvaramia told a press conference.

Gvaramia charged that the elections had been falsified using a complicated technological scheme, but did not provide any details.

President Salome Zourabichvili, who has close ties to the opposition, said on X that pro-European parties had received 52% of the vote.

"I am proud and confident in our European future," she said.

Voter turnout at 59%

Voter turnout was around 59%, according to preliminary figures.

Some 3.5 million citizens were called upon to vote both at home and abroad.

A resounding victory for Georgian Dream could threaten the country's chances of joining the European Union after the party enacted a number of controversial laws in recent years.

However, the process is on ice due to those controversial laws.

That is why, in the run-up to the vote, pro-Western forces in particular spoke of a fateful election for the country, which is at a crossroads and where both Russia and the West have a strong influence.

Electoral success for the party founded by billionaire Ivanishvili could mean the country's turning away from the EU and towards closer cooperation with its large neighbour Russia.

Ivanishvili became a billionaire through business deals in Russia.

Scattered reports of irregularities

During the course of Saturday, local media reported on individual incidents and conflicts at polling stations.

In the small town of Marneuli in the south-east of the country, a man threw several ballot papers into a ballot box at a polling station, according to the Central Election Commission.

The results at the polling station would not be counted, it was said. The opposition and the government blamed each other for the incident.

The Ministry of the Interior initiated criminal proceedings.

Due to the polarised situation in the country and concerns about election fraud, many observers were deployed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to monitor the vote.

Experts in electoral law had already complained about the ruling party's misuse of state resources.

Around 500 observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) are also on the ground. They will deliver their verdict on the election on Sunday.