TBILISI, Georgia — The newly elected Georgian parliament opened its inaugural session on Monday as opposition lawmakers and the country’s ceremonial president stayed away and thousands of protesters rallied outside, accusing the ruling party of rigging the vote under Russian influence.
The Oct. 26 election that kept the Georgian Dream party in power was widely seen as a referendum on the country’s effort to join the European Union.
Opposition parties refused to participate in Monday’s parliamentary activities, and only 88 Georgian Dream members were in the hall as the 150-seat parliament held its first session.
Nika Melia, leader of Coalition for Changes, vowed that the opposition “will do everything to defeat the so-called government, the self-proclaimed government.”
“This is the fight between people fighting for freedom against people who are trying to entrench the deeply authoritarian regime,” he said.
President Salome Zourabichvili, who has rejected the official results and refused to recognize the parliament’s legitimacy, didn’t attend the opening session.
Zourabichvili, who holds the mostly ceremonial position, said on X that the parliament is unconstitutional because of evidence of electoral fraud and her refusal to open the session as required by the constitution. Zourabichvili has filed a lawsuit at the Constitutional Court, arguing that two fundamental principles guaranteed by the constitution — the secrecy of the vote and its universality — were violated.
Several thousand protesters rallied outside the parliament under pouring rain, facing phalanxes of riot police.
“The government has stolen elections from us,” said student Vakho Sebiskveradze. “It’s not only about the elections — this is about stealing the European future from the Georgian people, the Georgian nation, and the Georgian youth.”
The Central Election Commission said Georgian Dream won about 54% of the vote in October. Its leaders have rejected opposition claims of fraud.
European election observers said the election took place in a “divisive” atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence.
Critics have accused Georgian Dream — established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia — of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
The EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely in June after the country’s parliament passed a law requiring organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government.
