Tens of thousands of people in Georgia have attended a pro-Europe rally, days before parliamentary elections seen as a crucial test for the country’s democracy and its bid for European Union membership.
Saturday’s vote will pit an unprecedented alliance of pro-Western opposition forces against the ruling Georgian Dream party, accused by Brussels of shifting towards authoritarianism and derailing EU candidate Georgia from its European path.
Demonstrators, waving EU and Georgian flags and holding banners that read “Georgia chooses the European Union” gathered at Tbilisi’s central Freedom Square after marching towards the venue from five different locations.
Several Georgian NGOs, including Georgia’s European Orbit and the “My Voice to the EU” coalition, called on Georgians to stage a mass rally there.
The adoption of the measure – criticized as a Kremlin-style law to silence dissent – sparked weeks of mass street protests and also prompted Washington to impose sanctions on dozens of Georgian officials.
Opinion polls suggest opposition parties are likely to garner enough votes in Saturday’s election to form a coalition government and replace the ruling party, controlled by powerful billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
In power since 2012, the party initially pursued a liberal pro-Western policy agenda, but over the last two years has reversed course and been accused of moving closer to Moscow amid its invasion of Ukraine.
Bids for membership in the EU and NATO are enshrined in Georgia’s constitution and supported by some 80 percent of the population, according to multiple opinion polls commissioned by groups including the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute.
