TBILISI: The ruling Geor­gian Dream party won Geor­gia’s parliamentary polls, res­ults showed on Sun­day, tho­ugh accusations of vote fraud from the opposition sparked fears of political instability in the Caucasus nation.

Georgia’s Western allies are watching closely to see if the strategic nation — prai­sed as a rare example of democracy in the former Soviet reg­ion — can cement gains after its first transfer of power at the ballot box four years ago.

With votes from almost all precincts counted, the electoral commission said Geor­gian Dream was leading main opposition force the United National Movement (UNM) by 48.61 per cent to 27.04 per cent.

In a proportional ballot, no other party cleared five-per cent threshold to enter parliament.

Western observers said polls were competitive, tho­u­gh they noted procedural problems during counting.

After voting closed on Saturday the Georgian Dream was quick to declare victory based on exit polls which gave it a strong lead over the UNM. “This was a truly free and fair election, which firmly cements Georgia’s democracy,” Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said after the vote ended.

But the UNM accused the government of attempts to “steal elections” and held a protest rally outside the electoral commission.

“Votes have been stolen from us. We will defend our votes,” Nika Melia, chief of UNM’s campaign and an MP candidate, told protesters.

Most opposition parties, including Democratic Geor­gia, the Labour Party and the State for People, also cried foul, accusing the government of “massive vote rigging”.

‘Competitive’ elections

But international observers from the OSCE, Nato, Council of Europe and European Parliament said the elections “were competitive, well-administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected”.

“The calm and open campaign atmosphere was, however, impacted by allegations of unlawful campaigning and some incidents of violence,” the monitors said in a joint statement.

The European Union said in a statement: “We look forward to working with the democratically elected new parliament and government to deepen our political and economic relations.” Ahead of the vote, monitors and opposition politicians noted that Georgia’s electoral environment and financing give an unfair advantage to the ruling party, which could potentially affect the vote’s outcome.

Georgian Dream, led behind the scenes by billionaire ex-premier Bidzina Ivanishvili, and the UNM founded by exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili, had previously been neck-and-neck in opinion polls.

Politics is still dominated by Saakashvili and Ivani­shvili, even though neither holds an official position.

The voting percentages that have so far been released are for a proportional ballot that will decide 77 of the 150 seats in the legislature.

Published in Dawn October 10th, 2016