Viktor Orbán’s divisive visit to Tbilisi on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 October to support the current Georgian government, with its echoes of the ‘peace mission’ that took the Hungarian Prime Minister to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing at the beginning of July, has not been well received in the European Union, where officials are calling on the Georgian authorities to clarify the “irregularities” noted by international observers during the parliamentary elections that the current government claims to have won.
The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, stressed on Spanish public radio on Monday morning that Mr Orbán “does not represent the European Union”. This assertion was confirmed by the spokesperson for the European External Action Service (EEAS), Nabila Massrali, who said that Mr Orbán’s visit was “exclusively” in the context of “bilateral relations” between Hungary and Georgia, as the Hungarian Prime Minister had “no mandate from the EU” to speak on behalf of the EU27.
The Hungarian leader, who was welcomed by the outgoing government in Tbilisi on Monday afternoon, described Georgia as a “conservative, Christian and pro-Europe state”. “Instead of useless lecturing, [the Georgians] need our support on their European path”, he posted on X. On Saturday, he was quick to congratulate the Georgian Dream party, currently in power, on its “overwhelming” victory in the legislative elections.
At the same time, thousands of Georgians gathered before the national parliament, in response to a call from the pro-European Union political opposition, to demonstrate against the election results. At the weekend, the Georgian President, Salome Zourabishvili, denounced the falsification of election results attributed to a Russian operation, an accusation categorically denied by the Kremlin on Monday.
According to the almost final results, the Georgian Dream party won nearly 54% of the vote, against less than 38% for the pro-European coalition. According to AFP, it should have 91 seats out of 150 in the national parliament, a sufficient majority to govern, but less than the three-quarters of seats needed to amend the Constitution. The opposition accuses Georgian Dream of pro-Russian authoritarianism and of taking the country further away from EU and NATO membership, two objectives enshrined in the Georgian Constitution.
However, according to the outgoing Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidzé, as quoted by AFP, the government’s main priority remains “European integration”.
Clarifying observed irregularities. At EU level, European leaders called on the Georgian authorities to investigate the irregularities observed during the vote and to clarify the situation before deciding on the outcome.
“For so many years now, the people of Georgia have been striving and fighting for democracy. They have a right to know what happened this weekend. They have a right to see that electoral irregularities are investigated swiftly, transparently and independently”, declared the re-elected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Monday at the College of Europe in Bruges, hoping that the Georgians would be “masters of their own destiny”.
The day before, the Commission and the High Representative had called on the Georgian Central Electoral Commission and the other competent authorities to investigate and rule “swiftly, transparently and independently” on the electoral irregularities observed, deeming this a “necessary step to re-building trust in the electoral process”.
They were echoed on Monday by the French and German authorities and by the Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, David McAllister (EPP, German).
Georgia on the agenda for the European summit. Responding on X, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, also felt that the alleged electoral “irregularities” should be investigated with a view to clarifying the situation.
“We reiterate the European Union’s appeal to the Georgian authorities to demonstrate their commitment to closer ties with the EU”, emphasised Mr Michel. He announced that the EU27 would be discussing the political situation in Georgia at the European summit in Budapest on Friday 8 November, and would be considering the next steps in EU-Georgia bilateral relations.
The situation in Georgia will also be on the agenda of the next Foreign Affairs Council on Monday 18 November.
In mid-October, the European Council once again warned the outgoing Georgian government that its policies – in particular the adoption of laws contrary to European values such as the ‘anti-LGBTIQ+’ laws (see EUROPE 13485/33) and on ‘transparency of foreign influence’ (see EUROPE 13417/5) – which “jeopardise” Georgia’s European path and “interrupt, de facto, the accession process” to the EU (see EUROPE 13505/9).
International observers are reporting irregularities. The delegation of international observers deployed during the legislative elections published their conclusions on Sunday 27 October.
Gathered in a joint mission of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions (ODIHR) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, NATO and the European Parliament, these observers considered that despite finding “the legal framework to be adequate for holding democratic elections”, the election was marked by growing political divisions, a confrontational campaign, unequal conditions of competition, attacks, intimidation and vote-buying.
Vote-buying was recorded before and during the elections, particularly in rural areas, denounced Romanian representative Iulian Bulai, Chair of the ALDE group at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Cases of intimidation, coercion and pressure on voters – particularly public sector employees – were also observed.
In 24% of the cases analysed by the ODIHR delegation, the secrecy of votes was compromised.
Observers also criticised the increase in the financial resources of the Georgian Dream party during the pre-electoral period, the strong polarisation of the political and media landscape, the hate speech against civil society and the opposition, and the abolition of gender quotas.
“We continue to express deep concerns about the democratic backsliding in Georgia. The conduct of yesterday’s election is unfortunately evidence to that effect”, said MEP Antonio López-Istúriz White (EPP, Spanish), head of the European Parliament delegation. “We will continue to closely follow the situation in Georgia to see if the next government chooses to realign with EU values and norms and reverse the negative tendencies of the last months”, he added.
To see the international observers’ statement, go to https://aeur.eu/f/e20 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion, with Véronique Leblanc)