Due to the Georgian election protest against the Dream party, police arrested 16 people. At a camp in the heart of Tbilisi, protestors and police clashed on Tuesday. The protests broke out after the October 26 parliamentary election, which gave the Georgian Dream party a fourth term in power.
President Salome Zurabishvili’s representative stated that the pro-Western party has contested the election results due to the universality violation and vote secrecy. The opposition leaders, who represent three of the four parties that won seats in the election, have called daily Georgian election protests. Their goal is to prevent the new parliamentary session from starting in November.
Georgia’s future membership in the European Union is at risk due to the ruling party’s power, the opponent’s leaders have warned, accusing the Georgian Dream Party of being pro-Russian. Protestors clashed with police as officers forcibly removed activists from a key Tbilisi location after two nights of encampment.
Police dragged protestors to the ground and sprayed them with pepper spray. The Ministry of Internal Affairs accused the protestors of illegally blocking the traffic and asked them to leave. Coalition for Change, an opposition group, stated that several of its members had been injured and that many were jailed. A cameraman for the opposition TV station Mtavari Arkhi was among them.
Although the Central Election Commission confirmed Georgian Dream’s victory with 54% of the vote, the opposition claims it is impossible to achieve statistically. International observers, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, acknowledged violations like ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and bribery but did not declare the election fraudulent.
