Pro-government candidate Salome Zurabishvili defeated Grigol Vashadze, a candidate backed by the exiled ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, in the Nov. 28 presidential election runoff, according to the official results announced by the country’s central election commission.
Paris-born Zurabishvili, known for her pro-Russian comments and backed by Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ruling Georgian Dream party, and Vashadze, supported by Saakashvili’s United National Movement, got 59.52 percent and 40.48 percent of the vote, respectively, according to the official results.
Both Zurabishvili and Vashadze were foreign ministers of Georgia under Saakashvili.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk’s private jet flew to Georgia ahead of the election, according to the FlightRadar plane monitoring site, prompting speculation that the visit was linked to the election. Medvedchuk denied flying to Georgia recently, saying he visited it 15 years ago for the last time.
Medvedchuk is considered Russian dictator President Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man in Ukraine, while Ivanishvili has been accused of links to Putin’s regime, although he denies them. Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party has wavered between the West and Russia in its policy, and Saakashvili’s United National Movement is staunchly pro-Western and anti-Kremlin.
Rigging accusations
Local and international observers said the vote was marred by numerous cases of vote rigging. Georgian authorities denied the accusations.
“The period ahead of the runoff experienced sporadic incidents of violence, reports of intimidation, and other practices that violated the spirit, and arguably the letter, of election laws,” the National Democratic Institute said. “…Allegations of attempted vote buying and abuse of state resources were prominent.”
The NDI also said that “there were sporadic, but serious, incidents of multiple voting and manipulation of the count, both directly observed by NDI monitors.”
Meanwhile, the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe said that “the second round of Georgia’s presidential election was competitive and candidates were able to campaign freely, however one side enjoyed an undue advantage and the negative character of the campaign on both sides undermined the process.”
“Elections were well administered; yet, the lack of regulation of key aspects of the second round did not provide legal certainty,” the OSCE said. “The campaign was marred by harsh rhetoric. Increased misuse of administrative resources further blurred the line between party and state. Private media continued to demonstrate sharp polarization and clear bias, while the public broadcaster did not ensure editorial independence and impartiality. On election day, voters actively took part and the process was assessed positively, although the observed tracking of voters reinforced concerns about potential intimidation.”
The election results raised eyebrows because they were the opposite of opinion polls taken in the run-up to the vote. According to an Edison Research poll taken on Nov. 12-18, Vashadze and Zurabishvili were expected to get 52 percent and 48 percent, respectively.
Saakashvili’s role
Saakashvili, who is currently based in the Netherlands after being exiled from Georgia and then Ukraine, said on Nov. 28 he did not recognize the election results due to vote rigging and called for large-scale protests against the outcome. Hundreds of Vashadze’s supporters took to the streets on Nov. 29.
Although Georgia is a parliamentary republic with a ceremonial president, the importance of the presidential election was due mainly to the possibility of Saakashvili returning to Georgia.
Vashadze has promised to pardon Saakashvili and give him his Georgian citizenship back.
Saakashvili was stripped of his Georgian citizenship in 2015.
Earlier this year Georgian courts convicted him in absentia on charges of ordering the beating of an opposition lawmaker and abusing his power by pardoning four police officers. Saakashvili believes the cases to be fabricated and argues that it is a political vendetta by Ivanishvili.
