Georgia’s ruling party has won the country’s general election, beating its pro-EU and pro-Western opposition.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) said the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has been in power for 12 years, had won 54% of the vote with more than 99% of precincts counted.
Both Georgian Dream and the opposition blocs trying to end its time in power portrayed the vote as an existential choice between moving towards the West or reverting to Russia’s sphere of influence.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream and a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, has accused opposition parties of being “an agent of a foreign country that will only fulfil the tasks of a foreign country” – suggesting the West wants Georgia to go to war with Russia.
He also pledged to ban all pro-Western opposition groups if the party won a constitutional majority.
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