Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
News

Ruling party in Georgia secures tense local election victories as EU expresses concern on democratic process

7 October 2025
commonspace.eu

Candidates of the ruling Georgian Dream party have won local elections held on 4 October in all five self-governing cities namely Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi, Batumi, and Poti based on preliminary results released by the Central Election Commission. The results appear to consolidate the ruling party’s control over Georgia’s largest municipalities amid a backdrop of political tension and opposition boycotts of the local elections.

However, the European Union said in a statement on 5 October that months of raids on independent media, restrictive laws targeting civil society, the imprisonment of activists and opponents, and electoral code changes favouring the ruling party drastically reduced the possibility of holding competitive elections.

Georgian prosecutors on Monday 6 October charged five opposition leadership figures with attempting to overthrow the government, after protests on Saturday culminated in clashes between police and demonstrators in the country’s capital, Tbilisi. Police repelled and dispersed the crowd, later making a number of arrests vowing to identify and apprehend others. Georgian Dream officials described the events as an attempt at a foreign-orchestrated coup and pledged to respond decisively.

During a late-night interview with Rustavi 2 channel on October 6, Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that police were arresting protesters “who stormed the presidential palace.” Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze also said during a briefing that police had arrested two more individuals, identified as R.Sh. and S.P., on October 4 for the illegal purchase and possession of firearms and ammunition.

According to the BBC, those arrested included opera singer Paata Burchuladze, one of the protest organisers. Earlier, he read out a declaration urging the employees of the ministry of internal affairs to obey the will of the people and to immediately arrest six senior figures from the Georgian Dream party. The government said 21 police officers and six protesters were taken to hospital with injuries. Waving Georgian and EU flags, tens of thousands of protesters marched in central Tbilisi on Saturday.

Georgia has been in crisis since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in last year's election, which the pro-European Union opposition says was stolen.  Since then the government has paused talks on joining the EU.

According to the Central Election Commission, the incumbent mayor Kakha Kaladze of Tbilisi secured re-election with 71.58% of the vote (214,872 ballots). In Rustavi, Georgian Dream candidate Nino Latsabidze achieved a landslide victory, receiving 91.93% (30,962 votes). Kutaisi voters elected Davit Eremishvili, who gained 85.65% (37,635 votes). In Batumi, Giorgi Tsintsadze won the mayoral race with 80.62% (42,815 votes). In Poti, Georgian Dream candidate Beka Vacharadze was the sole contender and received 100% of the vote (14,431 ballots).

In their joint statement, High Representative/Vice President Kaja Kallas and Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos expressed concern over the political climate and treatment of opposition voices and said that a significant part of the opposition boycotted the vote, which also saw relatively low turnout.

The EU also criticised the Georgian government’s refusal to invite international monitors in time, particularly the OSCE/ODIHR, which undermined transparency and prevented credible international observation. Domestic organizations refrained from monitoring as well, citing a repressive environment. Kallas and Kos noted that large numbers of Georgians have continuously protested against the government’s repressive policies and reiterated the EU’s call for the release of all those arbitrarily detained.

The statement further urged calm and restraint in the post-election period, calling on the authorities to respect citizens’ rights to freedom of assembly and expression. It emphasised the need for constructive, inclusive dialogue involving all political actors and civil society, with all sides refraining from violence. Finally, the EU firmly rejected “disinformation regarding the EU’s role in Georgia” and condemned the personal attacks directed against the EU Ambassador to Georgia.

Source: commonspace.eu with the BBC, Georgia Today, Civil Georgia and agencies. Photo: Demonstrators in Tbilisi on 4 October 2025. Mikhail Yegikov/TASS

 

Latest

Editor's choice
Monday Commentary
Monday Commentary: PEACE IN OUR TIME?
Trending

Monday Commentary: PEACE IN OUR TIME?

19 October 2026
Making peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan was never going to be simple, nor easy, nor quick. It is taking time, writes Dennis Sammut in this Monday Commentary. “There is a sense of realism coming from the leaders of the two countries – President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and prime minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, that frankly, is necessary and welcome”, he writes. At a time when conflicts are raging all over the world – from Ukraine to the Gulf, from Africa to South Asia, the prospect that Armenia and Azerbaijan had finally, after decades of conflict that left thousands of dead and many more displaced, decided on embarking on a journey of peace was welcomed. Peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan can be top-down up to a point. Both leaders have spent political capital preparing for a peace deal. But both are aware that their people are not ready for peace yet. In fact, in Armenia, most of the elite are negative toward a peace deal with Azerbaijan. Pashinyan needs time to persuade his countryfolk. That is why 2031 is realistic. Ilham Aliyev runs a tighter shop, but he is also not immune to public opinion. Every time someone hits a landmine in Karabakh, which unfortunately happens often, peace comes into question. Which is why Aliyev chooses to sound hardline, more often than not. In pursuing the peace agenda, both Aliyev and Pashinyan need to proceed cautiously. But they are right in making peace the central issue in their agenda. It is the main issue, and the one that will define them in history. So forward, cautiously but resolutely! In pursuing the peace agenda, Aliyev and Pashinyan need to be supported clearly and unambiguously. There are too many people in Baku and Yerevan who are sitting on the sides, waiting. The international community is not doing enough. It is time to be counted. Otherwise, the spoilers will win, and the region will go back to its bad habits. (Click the image to read the full commentary).
Dennis Sammut

Popular

Editor's choice
Monday Commentary
Monday Commentary: European-Azerbaijan relations need an intensive and multifaceted dialogue that is frank and honest
Trending

Monday Commentary: European-Azerbaijan relations need an intensive and multifaceted dialogue that is frank and honest

7 September 2026
Last week I visited Baku, Azerbaijan. My visit was relatively short, but very intensive, and had many meetings with stakeholders and colleagues. When I arrived in Baku first time in 1996,  Azerbaijan was a different country: weak, poor, and shaken by defeat in war. For thirty year the Karabakh issue dominated the agenda: the political agenda but also the popular mindset. Now, thirty years later, Azerbaijan has returned to Karabakh, and peace with Armenia is on the horizon. It is a new era for Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, for the South Caucasus, but also for Europe.  But we cannot be complacent: the Peace agreement has been initialed but not signed; borders remain closed; TRIPP is ambitious but remains an idea; and there are spoilers who want to turn the clock back. We must not allow them, and in this Europe and Azerbaijan must work together. Europe’ vanguard organization is the European Union – it is a free union of 27 member states; it is a strong global economic force, and increasingly a diplomatic and military force too. But it remains “work in progress” and can often appear dysfunctional. It often lacks collective and institutional memory. In its dealings with Azerbaijan the EU has made many mistakes – not least opening the delegation here late – in 2008. It sometimes appears condescending. Some utterances from the European Parliament and from some quarters in some member states are not understandable even for me. They irritate the Azerbaijanis, but serve no other purpose But Azerbaijan has also not handled relations with the EU well. It has failed to respond when the hand of friendship reached out; and it confused irritating actions, sometimes by well-meaning people; sometimes by outright spoilers, with strategic action. In short, EU-Azerbaijan relations have suffered from a lack of proper dialogue. This dialogue must be frank, honest and multi-faceted involving different segments of society on both sides.   Is Azerbaijan Europe? When Azerbaijan applied to join the Council of Europe in the 1990s, there were some who opposed, saying this was not Europe. I was one of the people who argued that Armenia and Azerbaijan may be on the periphery of the continent geographically, but were European in essence. Certainly their elites. During the discussion on 4 September in Baku, my friend Farhad Mammedov, mentioned that Azerbaijan is not interested in joining the EU, and was now close to the Central Asian countries in the 5 plus 1 format. Neither things mean that Azerbaijan is not Europe. There are several European countries that are not in the EU, and do not want to be, for example Norway and Switzerland. Iceland has recently voted to stay out of the EU. The UK was a member and left. Europe is bigger than the EU, and the holding of the European Political Community summit in Baku in 2027 proves that. Despite all the rhetoric, I never heard the president of Azerbaijan  saying that Azerbaijan is not Europe, nor have I heard any European president say it either. Not wanting to join the EU and forging close relations with neighbouring regions does not make Azerbaijan any less European. It is only logical that when Europeans talk to Azerbaijan they talk like family. The conversation is often frank. It must also be honest, and Europeans need always to remember this too. A frank, honest and multi-faceted dialogue A frank, honest and multifaceted dialogue will contribute to relations between Azerbaijan and the rest of Europe: it will avoid misperception, which unfortunately is very common on both sides; it will provide a forum where problems can be discussed and resolved, and it will increase mutual trust, so that together common problems can be addressed. (click image to read the full Monday Commentary)
Dennis Sammut
Editor's choice
Monday Commentary
Monday Commentary: “The barren rocks of Aden” and “These lands of Yemen are so ruthless”
Trending

Monday Commentary: “The barren rocks of Aden” and “These lands of Yemen are so ruthless”

21 September 2026
There are two early 20th-century tunes that mark foreign attempts to occupy and “pacify” Yemen. The Scottish tune “The barren rocks of Aden” marks the mobilisation of Highland soldiers, enlisted to be deployed to the Yemeni port of Aden, that in 1837 became the last colony to be incorporated into the British Empire. The tune talks of the harshness of the terrain, but is celebratory, It was even played as a farewell tune to Sir William Luce at the parade in Sharjah celebrating his end as “British Viceroy” in the Middle East in 1966. The second tune is an Anatolian lament. As Ilker Sezer reminded us this weekend, in his weekly feature on “Turkiye Today”, it “mourns the tragic fate of Ottoman soldiers dispatched to the harsh, remote deserts of Yemen during the fall of the empire, young men who marched away from their villages and never returned home. Most of their names, and numbers, were never recorded. Yet, their fate left a mark on the Turkish psyche.” Subsequent invaders have discovered that Yemen is a grave that cannot be overcome by the strength of modern technology, and that whilst Yemeni society is splintered and divided, building a reliable alliance with Yemeni factions is difficult. These are the harsh lessons facing Saudi Arabia, as the Kingdom faces its biggest challenge in its modern history. The leadership of the Kingdom now has to respond decisively. At stake is their very credibility. This is likely to be a long and messy conflict. Saudi military objectives need to be focused: to box in the Houthis rather than destroy them. This is likely to include: (a) regaining territory lost on the Red Sea coast; (b) control over Bab el Mandeb Strait; (c) some kind of cordon sanitaire on the Saudi-Yemeni border; and if things go well (d) the capture of Sanaa. All this would not eliminate the Houthi problem, but it will contain it. In the end the Saudis will have to continue managing Yemen with a mixture of carrot and stick. For the moment, the stick is likely, but the carrot cannot be forgotten either. (click the image to read the Monday Commentary in full)
Dennis Sammut