Georgia president asks foreign partners to act against Russia election 'infiltration'

LONDON -- Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili called on international backers to support the pro-Western opposition as it prepared for street protests on Monday in response to what it said were falsified results favoring the Moscow-leaning Georgian Dream government in Saturday's parliamentary election.

"These elections are illegitimate, and nothing can change that," Zourabichvili wrote on X, shortly after giving a press conference in the capital Tbilisi at which she described the alleged vote rigging as "a Russian special operation" and "a new form of hybrid warfare waged against our people and our country."

"We reject Russia's infiltration and occupation," the president wrote on social media, adding that the pro-Western opposition parties who contested the election "stand with me to defend our European future and the Georgian Charter."

Zourabichvili called on Georgians to gather in protest of the election results on Monday evening on Rustaveli Avenue -- Tbilisi's main thoroughfare and home to the country's parliament -- "to peacefully defend every vote and, most importantly, our future."

"I urge our international partners to protect Georgia by standing with the people, not an illegitimate government," Zourabichvili added.

The president and opposition initially reported prior to the official results that a grand alliance of pro-Western parties secured more than 50% of the vote late Saturday.

"European Georgia is winning with 52% despite attempts to rig elections and without votes from the diaspora," Zourabichvili said as the count was ongoing. The opposition complained of at least 160 electoral violations in the lead up to the vote, with more reports of abuses on polling day.

But the official results published by the Central Election Commission said GD secured almost 54% of the vote, with the combined share of the four opposition parties just under 38%.

The CEC said GD will therefore take 89 seats in the 150-seat parliament -- one less than it secured in the last election in 2020. The four pro-Western opposition parties combined will take 61 seats.

International election observers reported "frequent compromises in vote secrecy and several procedural inconsistencies, as well as reports of intimidation and pressure on voters that negatively impacted public trust in the process."

"Contestants could generally campaign freely while campaign rhetoric and imagery was highly divisive," they added.

"Reports of pressure on voters, particularly on public sector employees, remained widespread in the campaign. This, coupled with extensive tracking of voters on election day, raised concerns about the ability of some voters to cast their vote without fear of retribution."

Alexandre Crevaux-Asatiani, a spokesperson for the United National Movement opposition party, told ABC News that “whatever happened cannot be legitimate, even if they have the real numbers somewhere hidden."

"Those numbers would still not be a reflection of the true will of the Georgian people, because we saw on election day way too many cases of things like voter intimidation, fraud, ballot secrecy was not protected anywhere," he said.

"Another election would be a goal down the line," Crevaux-Asatiani said. "But right now, we're not really focusing on demands, because Georgian Dream doesn't really work based on demands. We want them to leave."

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, though, hailed "a decisive election for our country, where the fate of maintaining peace in our country was decided, and in the end, Georgian citizens made the only uncontested choice."

"They chose peace and development of the country, a bright European future for the country," Kobakhidze said.

The contest came after two years of unrest, with pro-Western parties and protesters rallying twice against GD's proposed foreign agents bill.

Critics said the legislation would be a major blow to Georgia's ambitions for European Union and NATO membership, both of which remain highly popular among the country's population.

The legislation requires media and non-governmental organizations that receive over 20% of their funding from abroad to register as "acting in the interest of a foreign power" and undergo audits, or face fines.

Opponents dubbed it "the Russian law," in reference to similar legislation passed by Moscow in 2012 and used to suppress domestic opposition to the Kremlin.

Zourabichvili on Monday urged Georgia's Western partners to respond. "Just as you opposed the Russian law, we ask you to stand with us again," she wrote on X.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement noting concerns about GD's pre-election "misuse of public resources, vote buying and voter intimidation, all of which contributed to an uneven playing field and undermined public and international trust in the possibility of a fair outcome."

"We note reports of irregularities and sporadic violence," he added.

"International observers have not declared the result to be free and fair. We condemn all contraventions of international norms and join calls from international and local observers for a full investigation of all reports of election-related violations."

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell likewise called on Georgian authorities "to fulfill their duty to swiftly, transparently and independently investigate and adjudicate electoral irregularities and allegations thereof."

"Those irregularities must be clarified and addressed," he said. "That is a necessary step to re-building trust in the electoral process."

Crevaux-Asatiani said the measured Blinken and Borrell statements were "strange" given the strong U.S. and EU criticism of GD -- and even sanctions against some of its members -- in the run-up to the election.

"We shouldn't rule out the explanation that they're doing everything right now to convince Georgian Dream to handle the situation as calmly, as normally as possible, and giving Georgian Dream one last chance," Crevaux-Asatiani said.

People power, he added, will be the key for international attention.

"We are not under the pretense that the West will react strongly and then that will lead us to protest," Crevaux-Asatiani said. "It's the other way around. We know that game with the West."

"The West only cares about Georgia when you have hundreds of thousands of people in the streets, waving the European flag and getting water cannoned while waving that flag."

A joint statement signed by 13 parliamentarians in Europe and Canada was more explicit in its concern, describing the elections as "neither free nor fair."

"The European Union cannot recognize the result," they wrote, calling for sanctions on "those responsible for unfair electoral influence, intimidation and threats against the opposition and civil society."

Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chair of the body's foreign affairs committee, was among the signatories.

"I'm afraid that Russia might be planning to use the same tactics it used in Georgia in Ukraine in a couple of years," Merezhko told ABC News. "Now we are talking about the 'Belarusification' of Georgia, and Russia might be planning 'Georgianization' of Ukraine in several years."

Still, GD has been gathering plaudits from abroad. Leaders in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Hungary applauded the party's victory soon after the CEC released its vote tallies.