Georgia’s ruling party opens parliamentary session amid protests, opposition boycotts

Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party opened the first parliamentary session on Monday after last month’s controversial elections. The session proceeded despite opposition boycotts and protests outside, with critics claiming the election was illegitimate.

Key points

• Official results from the Oct. 26 election showed Georgian Dream re-elected with nearly 54% of the vote. Opposition parties have rejected these results, calling them fraudulent.
• Election observers reported violations that could have influenced the outcome but stopped short of claiming the vote was rigged. Western countries, including the U.S. and the EU, have urged an investigation into allegations of voter fraud.

Protests, boycott

• Opposition parties had vowed to prevent Georgian Dream from convening the new parliamentary session, declaring they would boycott the parliament entirely.
• On Sunday night, protesters gathered outside the Soviet-era parliament building, setting up tents to block lawmakers from entering.
• On Monday morning, Georgian Dream lawmakers, including the party’s founder and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, entered the building and began the session, with no opposition lawmakers present.
• Outside, protesters shouted “Russians” and “slaves” at the arriving deputies and threw eggs at the parliament.

Political context

• Georgia, a traditionally pro-Western country with European Union candidate status, has moved closer to Russia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
• Relations with Western countries have soured, especially after the Georgian Dream passed laws targeting “foreign agents” and restricting LGBTQ+ rights, which the U.S. and EU have criticized as authoritarian and influenced by Russia.

Protesters’ sentiment

Protester Eka Demetradze described the stakes of the protest as existential for Georgia.

“Our country is on the verge of collapse. We will not let the oligarch steal our present and future,” she said, referring to Ivanishvili.