Tbilisi – A peaceful protest, without clashes with the police but carrying a strong message for the country and the world: “Despite everything, we are still here.” Thousands of Georgian citizens answered President Salomé Zourabichvili’s call to take to the streets and protest against what she and four opposition coalitions have called “the theft of your vote and the future of the next generations.” Two days after the highly controversial election results, which handed a controversial victory to the ruling party, Tbilisi transformed into a European capital. The flags of Georgia and the European Union fluttered in the sky, and the national anthem echoed in front of Parliament, interspersed with Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
The European-oriented opposition led the protest, standing side-by-side with citizens who refuse to accept that electoral fraud by Georgian Dream will determine their future. Anger and frustration were palpable among the protesters, but there was no sense of resignation or willingness to let the ruling party turn Georgian democracy into a fleeting memory, relegated to history books. President Zourabichvili captured the essence of the protest and the next steps: not violence or subversion, but “peacefully, as we are doing today, we will defend what is ours, your constitutional right to uphold your vote.” The word “truth” resonated through the air like a siren in the Georgian capital’s night.
The President’s address
Arriving on stage in front of the National Parliament, pushing through the crowd, President Zourabichvili opened the two-hour peaceful demonstration with what was practically a verdict: “I want to tell you that you, who are here today, did not lose the election. I swear that I will stand by you until the end of this European journey.” With a firm voice and without hesitation, the Head of State made it clear that “this is not the time for pessimism, surrender, or resignation,” but for staying “calm and determined” and focusing on “reaching the truth together. The results they have written will not be the final ones.”
This is where the “first phase” begins, working in coordination with international partners who are gradually aligning to provide potentially decisive medium-term support. In discussions with leaders and foreign ministers from various countries — from Poland and the Baltics to France, Germany, and the U.S. Secretary of State — it has emerged that “everyone insists that we must continue investigating” the electoral fraud “and bring it to completion,” with the possibility of “receiving international support to ensure the investigation is thorough and leaves no question unanswered.” No one truly recognizes the results of the elections in Georgia, as evidenced by the fact that the usual congratulatory messages to the winning party did not come from any foreign capital. With the exception of “one person who briefly passed through here,” Zourabichvili remarked with subtle disdain, referring to the arrival of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Tbilisi to celebrate Georgian Dream’s victory.
In this search for truth, to corner the political culprits and make clear that these were not free and democratic elections, it is essential to “paint a complete picture of how this massive and systematic theft of votes occurred, an unprecedented and planned operation.” The entire civil society is “actively” involved — monitoring organizations, NGOs, political parties, and ordinary citizens — “because you possess crucial evidence, we must continue working to present these findings and demand their enforcement,” urged the president. “The only thing we have is our voice — the voice of the people, the voice of the nation — and we must defend it,” she concluded, to the cheers of the crowd.
The voice of the protesters
Sakartvelos gaumarjos, “Long live Georgia,” was the most common chant heard. Thousands of voices gave voice to two days of frustration for what dozens of clear videos have already documented, and which now only await official certification to be recognized as electoral fraud, a stolen election.
“Citizen = 1 vote / Secret agent = 50 votes,” read a sign held by a woman draped in the Georgian flag. Two girls made it clear that it was time to “Make 1984 fiction again” and “Count our votes, don’t change them,” referring to the dystopian reality unfolding in Georgia, while a boy wrote a message on a large white sheet before the demonstration: “International community, don’t leave us alone.” The issue of Russian interference frequently surfaced in the protesters’ words. “I was born and raised under the Soviet Union, and I have no intention of dying there,” explained Nino, tears in her eyes, holding her grandson, who carried the blue flag with the twelve stars of the European Union in his hands.
Two living symbols of what the protest demands in terms of Georgia’s past, present, and future. “This is not the Georgian Dream, it’s the Russian Dream,” many shouted, accompanying their criticism of the ruling party with insults aimed at oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili and Vladimir Putin. “As for my future, I had other plans than being forced to flee my country because of the risk of being persecuted for my ideas, just like in Russia,” summed up Maia, a student at Tbilisi University. In the end, the hope is for a normal life, one free from repression, where one’s voice is not stifled in a ballot box by a large-scale fraud scheme.
The opposition’s counterattack
Supported by the President and the protesters, the opposition is now leading the charge for truth. “We are united on one thing, the Georgian Charter and our European path, which is our only way forward,” Zourabichvili said, handing the floor to the leaders of the four pro-European forces. “It doesn’t matter which party you voted for — whether the first, second, third, or fourth — you voted for Europe, and it’s they who must present the political plan.”
This plan runs parallel and does not replace the investigations into electoral fraud. It is based on four pillars, as outlined by all the speakers who followed the president on stage. First, the elections must be declared illegitimate, as they were based on “electoral theft.” As a result, no coalition of parties — except for the deputies of the Georgian Dream majority — will accept entering the new Parliament, withdrawing their candidate lists from the Coalition for Change, United National Movement, Strong Georgia, and For Georgia.
While these two phases were completed within 48 hours of election day, the next two phases are now the focus: “Fight until victory” is the first promise, meaning the goal of new elections conducted by an international electoral administration. For this plan, the streets are ready to fill again in the coming days, with the anger of thousands demanding truth and making it clear that “despite everything, we are still here.”
