Rival sides claim victory in Georgia’s key elections 

The governing Georgian Dream party is leading the crucial parliamentary elections, according to early results announced by the electoral body, but the pro-Western opposition groups are claiming victory, setting the stage for confrontation over the future of the former Soviet republic.

Early official results with 70 percent of precincts counted, showed the governing party had won 53 percent of the vote, the electoral commission said on Saturday. The opposition coalition garnered 44.1 percent of the votes. Some 58.94 percent of the 3.5 registered voters cast their ballots, the commission added.

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the governing party’s billionaire founder and onetime prime minister, claimed victory.

“It is a rare case in the world that the same party achieves such success in such a difficult situation – this is a good indicator of the talent of the Georgian people,” Ivanishvili said just minutes after polls closed.

“I assure you, our country will achieve great success in the next four years,” he said.

In power since 2012, Georgian Dream has shifted in the past two years towards pro-Russian rhetoric and has drawn the ire of its Western allies for what they cast as its increasingly authoritarian bent.

Georgia’s pro-Western opposition parties rejected as fraudulent election results that showed the ruling party winning parliamentary polls seen as a crucial test for Tbilisi’s democracy and European ambitions.

“We are not recognising the falsified results of the stolen elections,” said UNM leader Tina Bokuchava, while the leader of Akhali party, Nika Gvaramia, accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of “usurpation of power and a constitutional coup”.

Earlier, the governing party, as well as the opposition groups claimed victory, each pointing to different exit poll numbers.

One of the surveys showed the governing Georgian Dream party winning comfortably while two other polls projected the pro-West opposition to win a majority.

The union of four opposition alliances received a combined 51.9 percent of the vote, with the governing Georgian Dream party on 40.9 percent, according to an exit poll commissioned by a pro-opposition TV station from US pollster Edison Research.

An exit poll by the Georgian Dream-supporting Imedi TV channel showed the governing party winning 56 percent.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili – a one-time ally of the governing party turned fierce critic whose powers are mostly ceremonial – and independent domestic election monitors had alleged Georgian Dream was engaged in widespread vote-buying and other forms of electoral abuse in the lead-up to the vote.

Georgian Dream did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, came to power in 2012 advocating pro-Western views, alongside a pragmatic policy towards Russia.

He has since soured on the West, accusing a “Global War Party” of seeking to drag Georgia into war with Russia, even as he insists Georgia is on course to join the EU.

Georgia’s four main opposition blocs are deeply divided, and it is unclear if they will be able to work together if they deprive Georgian Dream of its majority.