(Bloomberg) -- Thousands of protesters gathered in the Georgian capital Tbilisi late Monday, answering a call from President Salome Zourabichvili to oppose the outcome of parliamentary elections that she said were rigged in favor of Moscow.
“Your voice was stolen, and they attempted to steal your future as well, but no one has the right to do that,” Zourabichvili told people gathered outside the parliament building. Organizers estimated the crowd in the tens of thousands, while the police didn’t give numbers.
The rally, which lasted just over 90 minutes, had blocked off traffic on the city’s main avenue and remained peaceful. Members of the opposition declined their parliament mandates and demanded a new election overseen by international authorities.
The Georgian Dream party, which has ruled since 2012, won 54% support for another four years in power, according to the Central Election Commission. Four opposition parties backing a pro-European charter drawn up by Zourabichvili got a combined 38%, the commission said.
The president, whose powers are largely ceremonial, denounced the result late Sunday, telling a news conference that the scale of violations meant “nothing can make this election legitimate.”
She urged Georgians to join protests against what she called a “Russian special operation” aimed at restoring Moscow’s influence and thwarting Georgia’s goal of membership in the European Union and NATO.
The political uncertainty has rattled investors, with two of the country’s biggest stocks falling in London. Bank of Georgia, which has tumbled from a record high in May, declined as much as 9.9% and TBC Bank fell as much as 15% before paring some of the losses on Monday. The lari was little changed after the central bank sold $60 million last week to counter pre-election volatility.
Going Eastward
The speaker of Georgia’s parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, accused the president of spreading “disinformation” aimed at “destabilizing the country alongside the opposition,” as he defended the result at a news briefing Monday.
Tensions have surged in the Caucasus republic of 4 million after Georgian Dream passed a “foreign agent” law targeting non-governmental organizations and media earlier this year that the US and the EU labeled as “Kremlin-inspired.” The EU suspended membership talks with Georgia in response — and the US began a review of relations with the government.
One protester, Gia Ubilava, said he’d been driven out of his home in the breakaway region of Abkhazia by Russian forces.
“And now they want me to go back to them and live together in a Russian-run state?” he said. “I don’t think so.”
Georgian Dream’s billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who built his fortune in Russia, has accused a “global war party” in the West of plotting to oust his government and to push Georgia into a conflict with the Kremlin. The party insists it’s still committed to European integration even as it has improved ties with Moscow in recent months.
International observers led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized “highly divisive campaign rhetoric and widespread reports of pressure on voters” during the election.
While they didn’t challenge the overall result, their election report noted “the many advantages taken by the ruling party contributed to an already uneven playing field.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a “full investigation” of election violations in a statement that refrained from questioning the result.
“We encourage Georgia’s political leaders to respect the rule of law, repeal legislation that undermines fundamental freedoms, and address deficiencies in the electoral process together,” Blinken said.
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