Georgia’s opposition dispute result of crucial vote

Georgia’s ruling party is leading the official results of Saturday’s parliamentary election, a crucial vote which could decide the country’s future in Europe.  

The ruling Georgian Dream party’s leaders and supporters began celebrations in Tbilisi late Saturday.  

The Central Election Commission in the South Caucasus country says Georgian Dream won 52.99% of the vote.  

The CEC said the announcement was preliminary with the majority of the vote counted. Not all paper ballots and votes cast by Georgians abroad have been counted.   

If Georgian Dream wins a parliamentary majority, it will stoke fears about the country’s bid for EU membership which was put on hold earlier this year by Brussels after the ruling party passed laws cracking down on freedom of speech. 

However, Georgia’s opposition disputed results of the vote. 

“We do not accept these falsified election results,” Georgian opposition leader Tina Bokuchava said Saturday. 

Bokuchava is the leader of opposition party United National Movement, part of the Unity National Movement coalition.  

Opposition disputed the results after officials said the ruling party led the crucial vote which could decide whether the country pivots to embrace the West or falls back into Russia’s orbit.  

Georgian Dream stood against four main opposition groups, which indicated they did not accept the results. The opposition initially declared victory shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).