Georgia’s ruling party wins election over pro-EU opposition
Georgia’s ruling party has won the country’s general election, beating its pro-EU and pro-Western opposition.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) said the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has been in power for 12 years, had won 54% of the vote with more than 99% of precincts counted.
Both Georgian Dream and the opposition blocs trying to end its time in power portrayed the vote as an existential choice between moving towards the West – potentially by joining the European Union – or tightening ties with its regionally-dominant neighbour, Russia.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream and a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, has accused opposition parties of being “an agent of a foreign country that will only fulfil the tasks of a foreign country” – suggesting the West wants Georgia to go to war with Russia.
Founder of the Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili after the exit poll results. Pic: Reuters
He also pledged to ban all pro-Western opposition groups if the party won a constitutional majority.
Mr Ivanishvili claimed victory almost immediately after polls closed, saying it was “rare in the world for the same party to achieve such success in such a difficult situation”.
But the pro-Western Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who has regularly criticised Georgian Dream, was among the opposition leaders who also claimed victory when competing exit polls were released, with some putting the opposition ahead.
Ms Zourabichvili earlier wrote on X that her bloc, European Georgia, had taken 52%, despite what she called “attempts to rig elections”.
Pictures were also published of opposition leaders celebrating, confirming their early confidence.
Nika Melia (L) and Nika Gvaramia, leaders of Coalition for Change, celebrate after polls closed. Pic: AP
There were reports of voting irregularities, and a video shared on social media on Saturday showed a man stuffing ballots into a box at a polling station in Marneuli.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said it launched an investigation and the CEC said a criminal case had been opened and that all results from the polling station would be declared invalid.
Sky News’ international correspondent John Sparks, in the capital Tbilisi, called it a “stunning result” and predicted many Georgians would find it “unbelievable”, as after 12 years in power, a change of government had been widely expected.
Election a ‘stunning result’ for Georgian Dream
The result in the Georgian parliamentary election is now beyond doubt – the country’s election commission has declared ruling party, Georgian Dream, victors after counting more than 99% of the vote.
In many ways, it is a stunning result for a party that has already spent 12 years in power. Georgian Dream has increased its share of the vote while moving the country decisively away from Europe and into alignment with Russia.
Founder and leader Bidzina Ivanishvili turned to the populist playbook with a series of contentious laws that restrict the activities of media and civil rights groups. His party also passed an anti-LGBT bill in the name of protecting, “family values and minors”.
Most effective perhaps, his decision to characterise the west as the “global war party”, seeking to suck Georgia into a war against Russia.
Georgian Dream still maintains an interest in joining the European Union – although officials say they would only join “with dignity”. The fact that the EU shows little interest in having them does not seem to phase Ivanishvili and co.
From the other side of the political divide, the results in this election will strike many as simply unbelievable.
Leading opposition figures, including the country’s president Salome Zourabishvili, have already accused the government of vote rigging and they have called their supporters out onto the streets to protest the result.
Georgian Dream stand accused of a range of offences, like ballot box stuffing, intimidation and forcing civil servants to vote for them.
But mass protests are unlikely to change the result – nor will the assessment of international election observers now examining the poll.
Georgia can expect another four years under the current administration and the fundamental nature of this country will also certainly change.
The result spells a striking defeat for Ms Zourabichvili, a French emigre, who had made her number one priority “restarting talks with the European Union”, Sparks said, while Mr Ivanishvili has moved his party “from being expressly pro-Western to an organisation that is more in line with Russia”.
Brussels suspended the country’s membership process after Georgian Dream passed laws restricting freedom of speech in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people.
The biggest opposition party, United National Movement, said its headquarters came under attack on polling day.
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Georgian media also reported two people were taken to hospital after being attacked outside polling stations, one in the city of Zugdidi, the other in Marneuli, a town south of Tbilisi.
Protests have been taking place across the country after the result, with leading opposition figures, including the country’s president Salome Zourabishvili, calling on supporters to take to the streets.
Rescue and recovery and efforts are under way in parts of South and Southeast Asia where the number of those killed in devastating floods continues to rise.
The extreme weather last week has killed at least 366 people in Sri Lanka, 604 in Indonesia, and 176 in Thailand, according to authorities.
Rescuers are searching for 464 missing people in Indonesia, and a further 367 in Sri Lanka, after a cyclone and other storms triggered flooding and landslides in the region.
In a post on X, the King and Queen Camilla said they were “deeply saddened” to hear about devastating storms and added their “heartfelt condolences” to the families of those who have died.
Landslides in Sarasavigama village near Kandy, Sri Lanka. Pic: AP
A man wades through the flooded street, following heavy rainfall in Wellampitiya, Sri Lanka. Pic: Reuters
A man uses a makeshift raft at a flooded area, following Cyclone Ditwah in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Pic: Reuters
Hundreds of thousands in shelters in Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan authorities said about 218,000 people were in temporary shelters after downpours that triggered landslides, primarily in the tea-growing central hill country.
People were seen salvaging belongings from flooded homes along the banks of the Kelani River, near the capital Colombo on Monday.
Meanwhile, train and flight services have resumed after being disrupted last week, but schools stayed closed, officials said.
Cyclone Ditwah was the “largest and most challenging” natural disaster in Sri Lanka’s history, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.
A landslide survivor crosses a section of a damaged road in Sarasavigama village near Kandy, Sri Lanka. Pic: AP
Landslide survivors salvage belongings at the site of a landslide in Sarasavigama village near Kandy, Sri Lanka. Pic: AP
A man uses his scarf to protect himself from the rain in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, in Chennai, India. Pic: Reuters
The cyclone also brought heavy rain to India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu over the weekend, with authorities saying three people were killed in rain-related incidents.
The storm, which as of 5pm UK time on Monday was about 50km (30 miles) off the coast of the state capital Chennai, has weakened into a “deep depression” and is expected to weaken further in the next few hours, weather officials said.
Amount of rainfall expected in South and Southeast Asia in the next 48 hours
Over a million affected in Indonesia
More than 28,000 homes have been damaged in Indonesia, with 1.4 million people affected according to the country’s disaster management centre.
The country’s president, Prabowo Subianto, called it a catastrophe and pledged to rebuild infrastructure as he visited the three affected provinces on Monday, where nearly 300,000 people have been displaced by the flooding.
Rescuers search for flood victims in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Pic: AP
A flooded field in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province. Pic: Reuters
Rescuers search for victims at a village affected by flash flooding, in Agam, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Pic: AP
‘Nothing remains’
“The water just rose up into the house and we were afraid, so we fled. Then we came back on Friday, and the house was gone, destroyed,” said Afrianti, 41, who only goes by one name and lives in West Sumatra’s Padang city.
She and her family of nine have made their own tent shelter beside the single wall that remains of their home.
“My home and business are gone, the shop is gone. Nothing remains. I can only live near this one remaining wall,” she said.
Highest one-day rainfall in Thai city for 300 years
In Thailand, flooding in eight southern provinces affected about three million people and led to a major mobilisation of its military to evacuate critical patients from hospitals and reach people stuck in floodwaters for days.
In the worst-affected city of Hat Yai, a southern trading hub, 335mm (13 inches) of rain fell on 21 November, its highest single-day tally in 300 years, followed by days of unrelenting downpours.
At least 82 people have died and more than three million people have been impacted by floods in 12 southern Thai provinces.
People move a car damaged by floods in Songkhla province, southern Thailand. Pic: AP
King offers ‘heartfelt condolences’
King Charles and Queen Camilla responded to the crisis in a statement posted on X and praised the work of emergency responders: “We wish to express our heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have so tragically lost their lives.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the many whose homes have been destroyed and to all who are awaiting news of loved ones missing.
“These disasters remind us of the increasingly urgent need to restore the balance and harmony of Nature.”
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnivirakul expects residents to be able to return home within seven days, a government spokesperson said on Monday.
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The first batch of compensation payments is set to be distributed on Monday, starting with 239m baht (£5.6m) for 26,000 people, the spokesperson added.
In Malaysia there have been at least three deaths and authorities are still on alert for a second and third wave of flooding as 11,600 remain in evacuation centres.
The founder of Dignitas, the Switzerland-based assisted suicide clinic, has died aged 92, according to the organisation.
Ludwig Minelli, lawyer and former journalist, died on 29 November shortly before his 93rd birthday.
Mr Minelli lived a life “for freedom of choice, self-determination, and human rights”, said Dignitas in a tribute.
He founded the organisation in 1998 with “a group of like-minded people”.
“At that time, he and his fellow compatriots would never have thought that this association was about to become an internationally active organisation,” said the tribute.
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‘He died like he lived, with dignity’
It described Mr Minelli’s belief that trying to “talk someone out of suicide is not a suitable prevention method”.
“Rather, the approach should be taking a person in a seemingly hopeless situation seriously, meeting them at eye level, and showing them all possible options to alleviate their suffering.”
Those options should include “the possibility of ending their own life with professional support, safely and in a self-determined way in a setting that he or she personally deems dignified”, it said, adding that a very small number of people who approach Dignitas end up choosing assisted suicide.
“It is up to the individual to decide which option to choose,” said the tribute.
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For and against assisted dying
The Dignitas team said Mr Minelli had “planned succession for a seamless transition” and the organisation would continue its “professional and combative” work.
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Although Switzerland has allowed assisted dying since 1942 – provided the motive is not “selfish” – Dignitas became well-known as it allows non-Swiss people to use its clinics.
Despite assisted suicide still being illegal in the UK, people from Great Britain make up the second largest group of Dignitas members, according to the group’s statistics.
Last year, 37 people travelled from Great Britain to die at a Swiss Dignitas clinic.
Those who accompany their loved ones to the clinics can be charged with assisted suicide, although earlier this year, police said a widow who accompanied her husband wouldn’t face charges.
“Whilst [the CPS] concluded the evidential test had been met regarding assisted suicide, it was decided not to be in the public interest to prosecute,” said North Yorkshire Police in a statement at the time.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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