TBILISI — The pro-Russian Georgian Dream party is on pace to extend its control of parliament, casting a dark cloud over the country’s future membership in the European Union.
Georgian Dream, led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, garnered 53 percent of the vote in the pivotal October 26 election, according to preliminary results from the Central Election Commission.
Four opposition parties crossed the 5 percent threshold to secure representation in parliament. The Coalition for Change, Unity — To Save Georgia, Strong Georgia, and For Georgia, which combined received more than a third of the vote, will receive about 62 seats to Georgian Dream’s 88.
The turnout was nearly 59 percent with just over 2 million citizens voting, the Central Election Commission said, the highest since 2012, when Georgian Dream first came to power.
The vote was cast as a defining moment for the South Caucasus country, which finds itself in the thick of the standoff between Moscow and the West.
Georgian Dream …