Georgian PM: Ruling party's "decisive election victory" highlights “citizens’ choice of peace, development, bright, European future"

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Head of the ruling Georgian Dream party’s election staff and the country’s Prime Minister, on Sunday stressed the party’s “decisive victory” in Saturday's general elections highlighted the “citizens’ choice of peace, development, and a bright, European future” for the country, Azernews reports citing Agenda.ge.

In his press comments on the elections in which the GD secured more than 53 percent of the votes according to preliminary results, the PM claimed Georgians had “opted for a stable and prosperous path” over the alternatives.

This was a decisive election for our country, where the fate of maintaining peace in our country was decided”, the official said, adding the “Georgian people made the only choice - they have chosen peace and the country's development”.

The PM expressed gratitude to Georgian voters, highlighting the “unity of the public in supporting the GD party, even through difficult times”.

I want to thank the Georgian people once again for their support, for the fact that during all these years, they have stood by us, even in the most difficult moments. Elections are a moment of special importance in the life of any country, and in the most important time, the Georgian people supported us”, he stressed.

Kobakhidze further highlighted the efforts of the GD’s election team, thanking “each individual” involved across the party’s 73 election offices nationwide.

“Many people were involved in the election campaign, agitation, and voter mobilisation”, he noted, adding their “collective work has been key” to what he called “our common victory”.

The PM further stressed the party had secured around 1,120,000 votes, marking the “highest turnout” for the GD since 2012, when it defeated the nine-year rule of the previous United National Movement Government.

We were telling the public this was an election equal to a referendum [...] and it was an election equal to the 2012 elections in its importance”, Kobakhidze said and claimed the message resonated with voters, resulted in what he described as “an unprecedented turnout”.

“The victory is very impressive. We have a 43 percent difference with the second-place party. We are five times ahead of it”, he asserted.

Kobakhidze also pointed to a “decline in support for the radical opposition”, saying it had garnered approximately 770,000 votes in Saturday’s vote, a “reduction from 845,000 in the previous [2020] election”.

“This means the support for the GD has increased significantly”, he said, “while the support for the radical opposition in the public has decreased”.

Reflecting on the opposition’s response, Kobakhidze accused them of “refusing to accept their defeat”.

The opposition did not have the dignity to accept another defeat”, he said. “They have experienced defeat in the elections for the ninth time. They once again lied to their own voters that they were winning this election”, the official noted.

He pledged “any attempts to challenge the Constitutional structure of the country” would be “unacceptable”, condemning both the “radical opposition parties” and “several non-governmental organisations” for what he described as an “ongoing effort to destabilise the country”.

This is an absolutely feeble attempt”, the PM argued, calling it a “hopeless, desperate attempt by politicians to somehow justify themselves to their voters”.

The PM also commended the role of law enforcement in “maintaining a peaceful pre-election environment” and described the election day as “qualitatively calm” with over 3,100 polling stations operating “without major incidents”.

He also thanked law enforcement for the arrest of an individual convicted for the 2016 attempted murder of an opposition figure several days before Saturday’s vote, reaffirming his previous claims on his alleged role in sparking post-election unrest in the country.

The PM also hailed the efforts of the country’s Central Election Commission for “successfully managing” the nation’s first fully proportional elections, in which more than 90 percent of voters had cast their votes electronically.

In his comments, the official acknowledged the CEC’s “flawless administration” and praised more than 3,000 election commission members for their role in facilitating the event.

Looking ahead, the PM laid out “ambitious economic goals” for Georgia's GDP from ?90 billion ($33.6 bln) to ?130 billion ($48.6 bln) and expanding the national budget to over ?40 billion ($15 billion).

The PM also said the GD Government planned to increase the average monthly salary from ?2,000 ($750) to ?3,500 ($1,310), with targeted reductions in unemployment and poverty rates to below four percent in four years.