ジョージア、「盗まれた」議会選挙に数万人が抗議

【トビリシＡＦＰ＝時事】ジョージアの首都トビリシで２８日、議会選挙でロシア寄りとされる与党「ジョージアの夢」が勝利した結果を受け、数万人が抗議デモを行った。親欧米派の野党は「盗まれた」選挙だと非難。サロメ・ズラビシビリ大統領はＡＦＰに対し、投票では「巧妙な」不正操作が行われたと主張し、ロシアの関与を指摘した。（写真は、ジョージアの議会選挙で与党「ジョージアの夢」が勝利した結果に抗議するデモ参加者。首都トビリシで）
　選挙管理委員会が発表した９９％以上の開票結果では、ジョージアの夢が得票率５３．９２％を獲得。親欧州連合（ＥＵ）派の主要野党連合は３７．７８％にとどまった。
　２８日夜、トビリシ中心部の議事堂前では、数万人がジョージア国旗とＥＵの旗を振りながら平和的な抗議活動を行った。
　与党と対立している親欧米派のズラビシビリ氏はデモ参加者の前で、「皆さんの票は盗まれたが、私たちの未来を誰にも奪わせはしない」「ＥＵへの道を歩むため、私は最後まで皆さんと共にあると約束する。ＥＵこそが、この国が属す場所だ」と呼び掛け、歓声を浴びた。
　ズラビシビリ氏はＡＦＰの取材に応じ、２６日に行われた議会選挙では「非常に巧妙な」不正工作が行われたと主張した。
　複数の州での投票に同一の身分証明書が使い回され、賄賂が横行し、電子投票システムにも不正があったと指摘。
　「政府を糾弾するのは非常に難しく、それは私の役割ではないが、この手口はロシアによるものだ」とし、「威嚇的な」ロシアに対処するのは厄介だと述べた。
　ジョージアの主要な選挙監視団は２８日、複雑かつ大規模な不正行為の証拠が明らかになったと発表。全体のうち少なくとも１５％を無効票とするよう要請した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/10/29-17:01）

Tens of thousands of Georgians protested in central Tbilisi on Monday after parliamentary polls denounced by the pro-Western opposition as stolen, while Georgia's president alleged to AFP that the vote was rigged using sophisticated methods she linked to Russia.
The Caucasus country -- rocked by mass anti-government protests earlier this year -- has plunged into political uncertainty since Saturday's vote, with Washington and Brussels condemning irregularities.
According to near-complete results announced by the electoral commission, the ruling Georgian Dream party won 53.92 percent, compared with the 37.78 percent garnered by a union of four pro-Western opposition alliances.
Georgian Dream has for months been accused by the opposition of steering Tbilisi away from its goal of joining the EU and back into Russia's orbit.
Waving Georgian and EU flags, tens of thousands of demonstrators held a peaceful protest outside the main parliament building in central Tbilisi on Monday evening that ended with calls for further rallies, AFP journalists saw.
Pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili -- at loggerheads with the ruling party -- told the cheering crowd: Your votes were stolen, but we will not let anyone steal our future.
I promise to stand with you until the end, on our path towards Europe, where we belong, she said.
Opposition leader Giorgi Vashadze said opposition parties would not enter the new illegitimate parliament and voiced their joint demand for fresh legislative elections run by an international election administration.
One of the demonstrators, university student Irine Chkuaseli, 19, said she had initially felt hopeless but since then has become fired up to fight for the truth.
We will not stop until these fake (election) results are cancelled, she said.
Speaking to AFP, Zurabishvili claimed that quite sophisticated fraudulent schemes were used in the weekend's vote.
She earlier declared the election results illegitimate, alleging election interference by a Russian special operation, a claim that was swiftly rejected by the Kremlin.
It's very difficult to accuse a government, and that's not my role, but the methodology is Russian, Zurabishvili told AFP, adding that it was difficult to deal with a threatening Russia.
She claimed that the same identity cards were used to vote multiple times in different regions, that money was distributed outside polling stations, and that there were violations using electronic voting technology.
A group of Georgia's leading election monitors on Monday said that they had uncovered evidence of complex, large-scale fraud and demanded the annulment of at least 15 percent of votes cast.
Defying the EU's concerns over the vote, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- current holder of the bloc's rotating presidency and the Kremlin's closest EU associate -- arrived on Monday for a two-day visit to Tbilisi.
- 'Irregularities' -
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday insisted that EU membership remained a main priority for his party and said that he expected a reset with Brussels.
The result gave Georgian Dream 89 seats in the 150-member parliament -- enough to govern but short of the supermajority it had sought to pass a constitutional ban on all the main opposition parties.
The polls have prompted widespread international criticism.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken blasted misuse of public resources, vote buying and voter intimidation, which he said contributed to an uneven playing field.
An EU parliament mission said the vote was evidence of Tbilisi's democratic backsliding, adding that it had seen instances of ballot box stuffing and the physical assault of observers.
A group of EU ministers released a joint statement condemning the violation of international norms in the elections, labelling them incompatible with the standards expected from a candidate to join the EU.
Germany and France also expressed concerns over electoral irregularities.
- Orban arrives -
Orban, who has retained ties to Moscow despite the 2022 Ukraine invasion, tweeted a message of support for the Georgian government on his arrival in Tbilisi.
Georgia is a conservative, Christian and pro-Europe state. Instead of useless lecturing, they need our support on their European path, Orban wrote on X.
Later, emerging from his Tbilisi hotel, Orban faced jeers and shouts of Go home! from protesters, videos posted on social media showed.
He is set to hold a joint press conference with his Georgian counterpart on Tuesday.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stressed that Orban on this visit does not represent the bloc on foreign affairs.
Georgia was rocked in May by huge demonstrations against a law on foreign influence, that critics said mirrored Russian legislation used to silence Kremlin critics.
The United States imposed sanctions on Georgian officials following the protests, while Brussels put EU-hopeful Tbilisi's accession process on halt.