Daily Times

Georgia braced for protests on Monday after the pro-EU opposition called for mass demonstrations, accusing the ruling party of “stealing” this weekend’s parliamentary election with Russian help. The Caucasus country — rocked by mass protests earlier this year — was plunged into political uncertainty in the hours after Saturday’s vote, with both Brussels and Washington denouncing “irregularities”. Georgia’s pro-European president Salome Zurabishvili alleged a “Russian special operation” to interfere with the election — a claim swiftly rejected by Moscow. The ruling Georgian Dream party has for months been accused by the opposition of steering Tbilisi away from its goal of joining the EU and back into Russia’s orbit. Defying the EU’s concerns over the vote, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — current holder of the bloc’s rotating presidency and the Kremlin’s closest EU associate — was scheduled to press ahead with a two-day visit to Tbilisi to show his support for Georgian Dream. And Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday insisted EU membership remained a “main priority” for his party and that he expected a “reset” with Brussels.