Official results following the parliamentary election on October 26 gave the governing Georgian Dream party nearly 54 percent of the vote, but the opposition parties that passed the 5 percent threshold and Georgia's president Salome Zurabishvili have said the result was rigged.

The opposition parties that passed the 5 percent threshold said that they are not going to enter the parliament, they demanded a new election under international supervision and an investigation into the alleged vote rigging.

Ruling Georgian Dream party does not share any of their remarks and points to the events of 2020, when there was a political crisis, although in the end the opposition entered the parliament.

Senior director for global democracy programs at the McCain Institute, Laura Thornton, who was NDI's resident director in Georgia in 2014-2020, told the Accent that "on election day, the scale of the irregularities is far greater than any election since arguably 2003."

According to her, "the situations in 2024 and 2020 are not the same."

"First, the pre election environment in 2024 was marked by violence against media, civil society, and opposition members, lawfare against civil society, passage of the foreign agents law, lack of compliance with agreed-upon electoral reforms, violation of the selection of the head of the CEC, an environment of fear and intimidation of government critics, unacceptable rhetoric and images in the GD campaign about war, and widespread disinformation campaigns by GD and Kremlin. In 2020, we did not have this. On election day, the scale of the irregularities is far greater than any election since arguably 2003. Violence against observers, ballot stuffing, multiple voting, intimidation, vote buying, were not just isolated incidents but widespread, as reported by domestic observers," she said.

As for the fact that President Salome Zurabisvili is at the head of the protest, Thornton believes the President gives the protest more weight:

"I believe she gives the protest more weight, because she has a mandate from the people who directly elected her. Her voice adds to the credibility."

When asked, "which scenario do you think is more realistic? – the scenario when the international community does not recognize the results of these elections as legitimate and takes measures similar to the decisions made in the case of Belarus? Or the scenario when the "Agents' Law" is canceled or "softened" and the partners continue to cooperate with the Georgian Dream authorities, despite the questions regarding the elections?" she stated the following:

"It will undoubtedly affect the relationship between Georgia and its Western partners. The GD government has discredited and vilified its international partners for so long that it will not be "business as usual." Even if GD "softens" the foreign agents law, there are multiple other actions that GD has taken to hurt its relationship with the U.S. and EU. The anti-LGBTQ "propaganda" law that suppresses free speech and association. The failure to curb transit of multi-purpose machinery to Russia, serving as a sanctions evasion route. The rhetoric to ban the opposition and jail opponents. The use of other legal measures to go after independent organizations, including international organizations. The failure of judicial and electoral reform.

I believe GD thinks it can simply "reset" its relationship by proposing a meeting between Ivanshvili and the U.S. ambassador, but this should not happen. I do not believe there will be a resumption of previous cooperation without significant changes and actions. Including the need to investigate the serious irregularities in the elections and the possibility of reelections in certain areas."