Socrates highlighted 2024 as a year for rising geopolitical tensions. Elections everywhere are drenched in conspiracies and fraud accusations. Protests have erupted in Georgia as the governing party has accused Russia of interfering in the election. President Salome Zourabichvili refuses to accept the results and believes the people wanted to side with the pro-West party that aspired to join the European Union.
“We’ve seen that Russian propaganda was directly used,” said Zourabichvili, a fierce critic of Georgian Dream, the governing party. She said the government has been “working hand-in-hand with Russia,” and “probably” received help from Moscow’s security services.
The European Union took it a step further and urged the Georgian authorities to “”swiftly, transparently and independently” investigate “irregularities.” “Those irregularities must be clarified and addressed. That is a necessary step to re-building trust in the electoral process,” the European Commission and High Representative Josep Borrell said in a joint statement, stressing the need for “constructive and inclusive dialogue across the political spectrum.”
Brussels has long has issues with Georgia’s attempts to integrate into the EU because the nation does not hold the same values as Brussels, plain and simple. The EU has been urging Georgia to adopt its same policies on everything from social issues to trade but Georgia is its own nation.
Now, the Georgia Dream secured 54% of the vote. Irakli Kobakhidze of the Georgian Dream party told the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg that irregularities happen in many elections but he firmly believes the outcome is the will of the people. “Of course we have to address these irregularities happening on the day of the election or before,” the Georgian prime minister told the BBC. “But the general content of the elections was in line with legal principles and the principle of democratic elections.”
Russia has denied the allegations. Denying the results of an election has become commonplace as we just saw with Venezuela, Moldova, and elsewhere. Republics everywhere are showing extreme strain as those in alliance with the New World Order will not accept an incoming party that does not align with their ideals.
