The European Parliament has adopted a non-binding resolution on Georgia, submitted by 5 political groups.

Titled “Georgia’s Worsening Democratic Crisis Following the Recent Parliamentary Elections and Alleged Electoral Fraud,” the resolution was supported by 444 MEPs, with 72 voting against and 82 abstaining.

The resolution includes an amendment urging Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili to use her constitutional authority to pardon Mikheil Saakashvili.

It “deplores the fact that Georgia, a candidate country for EU accession, held parliamentary elections on 26 October 2024 that did not respect international standards for democratic elections or its commitments as a member of the OSCE to carry out free and fair elections; emphasises that violations of electoral integrity are incompatible with the standards expected from an EU candidate country; highlights the fact that the conduct of the election was a further manifestation of the continuing democratic backsliding for which the ruling party is fully responsible;

Strongly condemns the numerous and serious electoral violations, including documented cases of intimidation, vote manipulation, ballot-stuffing, interference with election observers and the media, reported manipulation involving electronic voting machines that allowed multiple votes per identity document, significant imbalances in financial resources, the advantages of incumbency and a failure to investigate severe procedural irregularities;

Considers that the reported extensive electoral fraud undermines the integrity of the election process, the legitimacy of the results and the public’s trust in any new government, and that the results do not serve as a reliable representation of the will of the Georgian people;

Considers that, with the legitimacy of the vote severely undermined by the magnitude of the violations, the international community should not recognise the election results; rejects, therefore, any recognition of the parliamentary elections and calls for them to be re-run within a year, with the process conducted in an improved electoral environment by an independent and impartial election administration, under diligent international observation, in order to ensure a genuinely fair and transparent electoral process;

Supports the call for an independent, transparent international investigation into the allegations of electoral manipulation, voter intimidation and systemic violations, which were reported to have taken place in the pre-election period and on election day;

Welcomes the decision by the European External Action Service (EEAS) to send a technical mission to Georgia; calls on the EEAS and the Commission to establish a broad mission mandate that would go beyond the limitations of the OSCE election observation framework and methodology, which is significantly different from the EU election observation methodology, because the OSCE methodology is not always capable of adequately capturing everything that occurs in a country before election day, particularly in countries such as Georgia where there is a well-established system of pressure on public officials, voter intimidation and obstruction of local election observers”, - reads the document.

Is also calls on the EU and its member states to “impose personal sanctions on the officials and political leaders in Georgia who are responsible for the democratic backsliding, violations of electoral laws and standards, administrative abuses and misuse of state institutions, such as Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Mayor of Tbilisi/Secretary General of the Georgian Dream Kakha Kaladze, Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, Chairman of the Georgian Dream Irakli Garibashvili, and to extend these sanctions to judges passing politically-motivated sentences”.