In the upcoming elections on Saturday, an unprecedented alliance of Western opposition forces will face the ruling party “Georgian Dream“, which Brussels accuses of increasingly authoritarian behavior and deviating from the path to the EU.
Tens of thousands of people with EU and Georgian flags, as well as “Georgia chooses the European Union” posters, gathered in central Tbilisi’s Freedom Square.
The crowd was also joined by pro-Western Salome Zurabishvili, who said the rally “shows that Georgia has already won and will reintegrate into Europe”.
She also addressed the president of Ukraine, another EU candidate country, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, saying that in the war against Russia, Ukraine “is also fighting for Georgia. You will win and we will enter the European Union together”.
The rally was organized by various non-governmental organizations of Georgia and invited to take to the streets on Sunday to “choose unity, development and the European Union”.
Parliamentary elections will be held in Georgia on October 26, in which the ruling party “Georgian Dream” will compete with the pro-Western opposition.
The ruling party, controlled by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, wants a supermajority in parliament.
Initially, when it came to power in 2012, the “Georgian Dream” party implemented a liberal pro-Western policy, but in the last two years it has strengthened its hostile position against the West and liberals.
Brussels has repeatedly warned Georgia that it is moving away from its declared intention to join the EU. This year, Brussels froze the accession process after the “Georgian Dream”-led parliament passed a controversial “foreign influence law” that allows it to target civil society.
Opinion polls suggest the opposition could win enough votes to form a coalition government, while analysts warn the current ruling party could try to hang on to power regardless of the election’s outcome.