President challenges election results as Georgia cracks down on protesters

Police clash with pro-West protesters as President Zurabishvili demands annulment of October re-election of Georgian Dream government, accused of increasing authoritarianism and Russian links.

Police have arrested dozens in a crackdown on protests against the re-election of the Georgian Dream party in last month’s parliamentary election.

At least 16 people were detained on Tuesday as police clashed with protesters at a camp in the centre of the capital, Tbilisi. Representatives for President Salome Zurabishvili announced that the pro-Western head of state had launched a legal challenge to the election, which handed the ruling Georgian Dream a fourth term in power.

Zurabishvili has asked the constitutional court to annul the results of the October 26 vote “over widespread violations of voting universality and ballot secrecy”, according to her lawyer Eka Beselia.

Leaders of three of the four opposition parties that won seats have called for daily protests to prevent the new session of parliament from opening later in November.

Georgian Dream’s opponents cast the party as pro-Russian and say its continued rule will torpedo the country’s chances of joining the European Union.

A few hundred protesters had erected tents and occupied a main avenue in Tbilisi for two nights until they were dispersed on Tuesday morning.

Georgian demonstrators face law enforcement officers during a protest in Tbilisi [Giorgi Arjevanidze/AFP]

Video showed police throwing some protesters to the ground and dragging them along the pavement. Some officers used pepper spray from close range.

Georgia’s Interpress news agency said 16 people had been detained but that three had already been released.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs said protesters had illegally blocked traffic and urged them to leave the area. It did not mention any arrests.

Coalition for Change, one of the four opposition groups, said several of its members had been arrested and some suffered injuries.

A cameraman for Mtavari Arkhi, an opposition television channel, was also detained, the outlet said.

Statistically impossible

The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Saturday officially confirmed Georgian Dream’s victory with 54 percent of the vote, although two US pollsters commissioned by the opposition have said the result is statistically impossible.

Widely seen as pivotal for the country of about 3.7 million people, the election offered a choice between further European integration under the pro-Western opposition or closer ties with Moscow under a governing party that critics say is increasingly authoritarian.

Observer groups, including the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have said violations such as ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and bribery could have swayed the election, but stopped short of saying it was outright stolen.

In the face of widespread suspicion, Russia has vigorously denied any interference in Georgia’s affairs.