Georgia election was not fair and must be re-run, European Parliament concludes

A controversial nationwide election that saw Georgia’s increasingly authoritarian government secure a hefty majority should be held again as a result of irregularities, according to a resolution passed by the European Parliament on Thursday.

In a session in Strasbourg, MEPs voted by a margin of 444-72 in favor of a motion to declare the parliamentary election results in the South Caucasus country invalid, arguing they “do not serve as a reliable representation of the will of the Georgian people.” It calls for the election to be re-run within a year under international supervision.

In a statement following passage of the motion, the Parliament said Georgia’s voting process had been “neither free nor fair,” after international election observers expressed concern over pressure on citizens and allegations of vote buying and ballot stuffing.

The resolution also calls on the European Commission and other EU institutions not to engage with the government formed by the Georgian Dream party — which has been accused of imposing a string of Russian-style legislation targeting NGOs and the LGBTQ+ community in recent months. MEPs also backed sanctions against senior politicians “responsible for democratic backsliding.”

Negotiators from the main parties represented in the European Parliament, including the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Renew, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the Greens, met ahead of Thursday’s vote to agree on the text, a spokesperson told POLITICO.

In a statement, Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė, the Parliament’s rapporteur for the country, said: “Georgia’s prospects for European integration are now on the line. The electoral process must be investigated to restore faith in Georgia’s democratic institutions,” she said.

Georgia’s candidacy for membership of the EU was frozen in response to Georgian Dream’s passage of a bill that would brand Western-supported civil society groups and media outlets as “foreign agents,” a move critics say parallels tactics used by Moscow to stifle domestic dissent.

Georgian Dream has denied charges of election rigging. On Thursday, the country’s newly appointed foreign minister, Maka Bochorishvili, said calls from the European Parliament were based on “inaccurate information” and insisted the country was on course to join the bloc by 2030, despite the unprecedented break in relations.