Georgia's PM denounces “unprecedented” foreign meddling in elections

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has said that elections in Georgia are taking place amid unprecedented foreign interference.

"Unfortunately, these elections are taking place against a backdrop of unprecedented external interference,” Kobakhidze said at a briefing, Caliber.Az informs, citing Georgian media.

“However, it is reassuring that this unprecedented foreign interference, which contradicts electoral principles, will not actually affect the outcome of the elections," Kobakhidze noted.

Notably, parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Georgia on October 26, 2024.

Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia and Head of the ruling Georgian Dream party election staff, on September 8, called the elections a “battle between statelessness and love of the country, atheism and respect for the church, slavery and sovereignty”.

Addressing the public in an election campaign event in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of southwest Georgia, the top official described the vote “as more than a routine political event, but a decisive referendum”.

In the 2020 parliamentary election, Georgian Dream scored 48 per cent of votes, dwarfing United National Movement which came in second at 27 per cent. But in 2024, as the opposition forms coalitions, polling suggests there may not be an outright winner.

For most Georgians, like the weary villagers in the sunken mining town, bread-and-butter domestic issues are the top priority — not the geopolitical tussle between the West and Russia.

They just want jobs, inflation brought under control and political stability, according to a recent poll.