The crowd gathered in front of the Parliament building, in the center of the capital, two days after a vote won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, accused by the opposition of having engaged in a pro-Russian authoritarian drift and of move Georgia, a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus, away from the prospect of membership in the European Union and NATO.
3 mins
With our correspondent in Tbilisi, Régis Genté
Thousands of people were present at the demonstration. It was really a very big event, one of the biggest that I have been able to cover for RFI in around twenty years. It was really quite impressive and it really shows the extent of the anger that is arousing Georgia after this Saturday’s election.
The feeling that Georgia’s European future is being stolen and will disappear and will have to return to Russia’s geopolitical orbit. We heard a lot of this in the ranks of the demonstrators with people of all ages, many students, of course, but the future of Georgia was also for the elderly, people who talked about how, for example , at their work – for civil servants – they were asked to give, for example, the names of people in their family and for whom they were voting, to better control these votes. And so it has also helped over the last 48 hours to try to understand what happened, how this vote was stolen, what fraud was implemented by those in power. And we felt great determination in this demonstration this Monday evening.
What are the political scenarios available to the country?
It’s still a little early to tell. There is the opposition’s idea of taking to the streets, but not every evening. For example, this demonstration lasted 2 hours, contrary to the custom of demonstrations which extend very long into the night, in this case after approximately 2 hours, and it is not certain that there will be a demonstration tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Political parties and civil society organizations are trying to understand the nature of fraud in order to then act and also understand how to maintain it. We saw in the spring with the laws on foreign agents, that we held demonstrations for two months and that it ultimately did not work since this law was adopted. I believe that the opposition is still thinking about it. And the stunned side that society feels after this election.
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How are international pressures perceived?
They are perceived by the government in a very negative way. They are described as interference from abroad.
On the opposition side, we feel that the balance of power is so difficult with this power which clearly has the support of Moscow, we see this by the declarations of Russian officials at the highest level.
We feel that the game is completely unequal. Also because power in Georgia is held by an extremely powerful oligarch, who is truly the strong man of the country, and therefore all the support coming from the West, who are in any case Georgia’s traditional partners, partners on which all pro-Westerners are counting today, are welcome. Support from the West is eagerly awaited, whether with sanctions against the leaders, whether with strong announcements on support, on the freezing of certain programs as well, to make those in power feel how much its policy break with the West will cost the country.
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What reactions to the results of the international vote?
After the controversial election on Sunday October 27 in Georgia, there were numerous international reactions this Monday. If Russia rejected the accusations of interference in the electoral process made by President Salomé Zourabichvili, both the United States and the European Union demanded that light be shed on the irregularities noted around the vote.
“ Georgians have the right to know what happened this weekend. » It is with these simple words that the President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen summed up what several Western capitals have denounced in more diplomatic terms: “ irregularities before and after the vote “, according to France… “ significant irregularities “, according to Germany, “ in violation of international standards “.
Paris and Berlin unanimously called for a thorough “investigation” after the OSCE monitoring mission in Georgia said it observed cases of vote buying, voter intimidation and stuffing urns.
Foreign ministers from 13 European Union countries condemned the “violation of international rules” during Saturday’s legislative elections, which they deemed “incompatible with the standards expected” of a country candidate for membership of the European Union. the EU. In addition to those of France and Germany, the foreign ministers signing the text are those of the following countries: Poland, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden.
As for the United States, through its head of diplomacy Antony Blinken, it joined these calls to “ address these shortcomings “. Washington also called for the repeal of repressive laws passed by Georgia in recent months.
In Europe, only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who currently chairs the European Council, was keen to welcome the “ crushing victory » of the ruling party, while announcing his visit to Tbilisi this Monday and Tuesday. “Georgia is a conservative, Christian and pro-European state. Instead of useless sermons, she needs our support on her European path,” the nationalist leader tweeted upon his arrival in the Georgian capital.
And for its part, Russia has “ firmly rejected » the accusations of interference, which she simply describes as “ unfounded “.