The Georgian tycoon and founder of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, was in a good mood Saturday night when the party declared itself the winner of the election. Sunday morning, the electoral commission announced that the Georgian Dream had won with almost all the country's constituencies counted. Photo: Giorgi Arjevanidze/Ritzau Scanpix
Georgian Dream declared winner by electoral commission
The ruling party in Georgia, Georgian Dream, secured 54 percent of the vote in the Saturday parliamentary elections, with over 99 percent of precincts counted. Both Georgian Dream and an opposition coalition claimed victory on Saturday evening. The opposition, which advocates closer ties to the West and the EU, refuses to recognize the results, alleging the election was stolen. Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who founded and controls Georgian Dream, praised his party’s success. The EU has criticized the Georgian government for not implementing necessary reforms for EU membership and for passing a law that it says harms free media and opposition. Georgia applied for EU membership in 2022 and became a candidate country by late 2023.