Georgia to Conduct Partial Recount of Parliamentary Election Vote

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Facts

• Following allegations of election fraud at over a third of the country's polling stations, Georgia's Central Election Commission (CEC) announced Tuesday that it will conduct a recount at a randomly selected 14% of polling stations throughout the 84 electoral districts.^[1][2]
• The ruling Georgian Dream party was reported to have won 54% of the vote, compared to a combined 38% for a coalition of opposition parties. However, both the opposition and election monitors have alleged 'large-scale election fraud.'^[3][4]
• The results showed Georgian Dream — which won by 335K votes with a total of 1.12M — outperforming in rural areas by margins of up to 90%, while the opposition won large cities like Tbilisi.^[3][5]
• The law stipulates that a recount can occur up to six days after an election, whether fraud allegations have been made or not. A monitoring group called My Vote said it collected 900 reports of fraud, and had witnesses, photos, and videos to substantiate the claims.^[5]
• Georgia Pres. Salome Zourabichvili called for an 'international investigation' with the help of 'European and US partners.' This follows Sweden's decision last week to suspend cooperation with Georgia, a move announced Tuesday following the fraud allegations.^[3]
• While Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited Georgia to congratulate Georgian Dream, over a dozen other EU countries condemned the allegations as 'incompatible with the expectations of a candidate country for EU membership.' Georgia was granted candidate status last year.^[6]

Sources: ^[1]Al Jazeera, ^[2]France 24, ^[3]Dw.Com, ^[4]Reuters, ^[5]The Globe and Mail and ^[6]NPR Online News.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Worldcrunch. The Georgian people voted this year to end the current pro-Russia regime. As fears of a Russian invasion grow, and 70% of the country supports joining the EU, it makes sense that Vladimir Putin would attempt to put his finger on the scale and rig this election. Due to these genuine fears, on top of reports of ballot stuffing and violence, the country must double-check the vote count and see if Moscow did indeed influence the results.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Middle East Eye. The Western establishment is forcing this recount purely because it dislikes the popularity of the Georgian Dream party. Even an opposition-led parallel vote count found that Georgian Dream was leading in the polls, but that doesn't matter to Brussels and its pro-war leaders. Georgian voters support two main policies that the EU can't stand: ending the war in Ukraine and promoting traditional family values. The EU only likes democracy when it advances the bloc's own interests.

Predictions