Category Archives: Georgia

Final recount confirms Georgia ruling party victory, says electoral commission

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EU and US demand investigation as opposition and pro-European president cry foul

Officials in Georgia said a partial recount confirmed the ruling party had won its disputed election, while a global research and data firm called the official results reported by the electoral commission “statistically impossible”.

The pro-western opposition on Thursday repeated its earlier assertions that the parliamentary vote had been “stolen” by the ruling Georgian Dream party and it refused to recognise the results, plunging the Caucasus country into uncertainty.

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Georgia must change course to open EU membership talks, says European Commission

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Western powers call for investigation into Georgian Dream party election win amid reports of voter intimidation and fraud

The European Commission has said it will not recommend opening EU membership talks with Georgia unless the country changes course, days after the increasingly anti-western Georgian Dream (GD) party won pivotal parliamentary elections amid reports of irregularities and voter intimidation.

The commission recommended that Georgia be granted EU candidate status last year – something Ukraine and Moldova had already achieved – but made clear at the time that this could be withdrawn if the government in Tbilisi did not follow through on agreed reforms.

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Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against contested election results

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Mood among protesters is one of deflation as some say Georgian Dream has already won

Thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets in the capital, Tbilisi, to rally against the results of a contested weekend parliamentary election in which the increasingly anti-western governing party was declared victorious amid reports of irregularities and voter intimidation.

The demonstration outside the parliament in the city centre was organised by the country’s pro-western opposition, which has refused to concede defeat and has accused the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party of election rigging.

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Georgia’s pro-EU opposition calls for protest over ‘rigged’ election result

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Pro-western president Salome Zourabichvili claims country has fallen victim to ‘Russian special operation’

Georgia’s pro-western opposition has called on the country to protest on Monday against the disputed parliamentary victory of the ruling, Russia-aligned Georgian Dream (GD) party.

GD retained power in Saturday’s pivotal election that dealt a significant blow to the country’s long-held aspirations for EU membership, amid allegations of voter intimidation and coercion.

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Who is Bidzina Ivanishvili, the shadowy billionaire behind Georgia’s pivot to Russia?

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Country’s wealthiest and most influential figure has guided shift away from the west while cultivating an air of mystery

In the winding streets of ancient Tbilisi, one is ever under his watchful gaze. From a hilltop glass mansion, likened by critics to a Bond villain’s lair, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s wealthiest and most influential figure, has guided the country’s shift away from the west over more than a decade.

With his party’s latest victory in the pivotal parliamentary elections on Saturday, that trajectory appears set to continue for years to come, sparking warnings from opponents that Ivanishvili plans to dismantle Georgia’s fragile three-decade experiment with democracy while blocking any viable path to EU integration.

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Georgia’s ruling pro-Russia party retains power in blow to EU aspirations

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OSCE observers say election bore evidence of ‘democratic backsliding’ with reports of intimidation and coercion

Georgia’s ruling party has retained power in a contested parliamentary election in a blow to the country’s long-held aspiration for EU membership, amid accusations of intimidation and coercion of voters.

Georgia’s pro-western opposition refused to concede defeat, accusing the ruling party of a “constitutional coup” and promising to announce protests, setting the stage for a potential political crisis that could further polarise the Caucasus country.

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Georgia’s ruling party leading in pivotal election ahead of pro-EU opposition

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Results with 70% of precincts counted give Georgian Dream majority in vote seen as crucial to possible EU membership

Georgia’s ruling party is leading in a pivotal parliamentary election widely seen as a make-or-break vote for the country’s long-held aspiration for EU membership.

Early official results, with 70% of precincts counted, showed the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party had won 53% of the vote, the electoral commission said.

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Georgians head to the polls in pivotal parliamentary election

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Voters will decide if Georgian Dream party, in power since 2012, will secure another four-years, having shifted the country closer to Russia

Georgians have headed to the polls in a pivotal parliamentary election that could determine whether Georgia shifts away from its long-held western orientations towards stronger ties with the Kremlin.

Voters will decide on Saturday whether the Georgian Dream (GD) party, which has been in power since 2012 and steered the country into a conservative course away from the west and closer to Russia, secures another four-year term.

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Watershed moment as Georgia goes to polls in tussle between Russia and west

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Observers say country’s democracy at stake after Moscow-aligned ruling party’s threats to ban opposition

Georgians are heading to polls in a critical election that could determine whether one of the once most pro-western former Soviet states will veer towards a more authoritarian, Russia-aligned path.

For the past three decades, Georgia – a country of 3.6 million people nestled in the Caucasus mountains – has maintained strong pro-western aspirations, with polls showing up to 80% of its residents favour joining the EU.

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Tucker Carlson warms up crowd at Trump rally with bizarre spanking rant

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Comments meant to portray ex-president as coming ‘home’ to White House to mete out discipline to Kamala Harris

The audience at a Donald Trump rally in Georgia on Wednesday erupted into bizarre chants of “Daddy’s home!” and “Daddy Don!” after an extraordinary and borderline creepy and sexist speech by far-right personality Tucker Carlson likening the Republican presidential candidate to an angry father spanking his daughter.

“Dad comes home. He’s pissed. Dad is pissed. And when dad gets home, you know what he says? ‘You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl, and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now,’” the former Fox TV host told the crowd in Duluth.

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Guardian US to co-host event on battle over voting rights in America

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Panel co-hosted by Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry at Emory University to discuss changes to Georgia voting laws

Guardian US and and the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry at Emory University are co-hosting an event on 23 October at 6pm ET on the battle over voting rights in America.

The event will focus on the past, present and future of fights over access to voting, including the sweeping changes to Georgia’s voting laws since 2020. Those measures have made it easier to challenge voters, shortened the window to request an absentee ballot, and made it illegal to hand out food or water to voters waiting in line.

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Georgia dock collapse: witness says gangway buckled from ‘too much weight’

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Daisy Hicks, 84, observed victims waiting for ferry using walkers and wheelchairs before plummeting into water

A woman who says she witnessed a dock collapse in Georgia that killed seven people says she noticed many were using walkers and wheelchairs before the gangway failed and sent them plummeting into the water.

“I can still see those people bobbling around in that water,” 84-year-old Daisy Hicks said in remarks published by the Florida Times-Union and obtained by its reporting partner First Coast News. Saying she was left traumatized by what she witnessed, she added: “I can still hear people screaming. I can still see [a] lady that was [subsequently] going around asking for blankets” to carry before the arrival of rescue equipment.

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‘It’s devastating’: seven dead identified in Georgia dock gangway collapse

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The dead, in their 70s and one woman in her 90s, were on Sapelo Island to celebrate the Gullah Geechee culture

New details have emerged in the catastrophic collapse of a dock gangway on a small island in Georgia over the weekend that killed seven people and injured many more.

The collapse, which caused at least 20 people to plunge into the water, occurred after the Cultural Day festival on Sapelo Island in honor of Gullah Geechee culture. Officials say that up to 40 people were standing on the dock gangway to board a ferry back to the mainland when the structure gave way.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Kamala Harris visits church on birthday as Trump repeats ‘enemy within’ rhetoric

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Vice-president marks birthday with call for compassion, while rival visits McDonald’s and attacks opponents

Kamala Harris celebrated her 60th birthday on the campaign trail on Sunday while Donald Trump visited a McDonald’s and doubled down on his dangerous rhetoric labeling Democrats as “enemies from within,” as both candidates tried to shore up support in key states ahead of the US presidential election.

Harris rallied Black voters in Georgia on Sunday with “souls to the polls” visits to two community churches.

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Dock collapse on Georgia’s Sapelo Island leaves as least seven dead

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Accident occurred as crowds gathered on the island for a celebration of the Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants

At least seven people were killed after part of a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia’s Sapelo Island, authorities said.

Multiple people were taken to hospitals, and crews from the US coast guard, the McIntosh County Fire Department, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and others were searching the water, according to spokesperson Tyler Jones of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which operates the dock.

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Harris stresses abortion rights and early voting in packed Atlanta rally

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Thousands of supporters, including Usher, rally in battleground Georgia, as campaign focuses on early votes

Kamala Harris highlighted the threat to women’s reproductive rights and Donald Trump’s apparent exhaustion at a rally Saturday in south Atlanta, continuing a full-court press for votes in Georgia as early voting breaks records here.

The race continues to appear close in Georgia, with polls suggesting the Republican nominee holds a one-point lead in the state. Trump has made multiple appearances in Georgia and has a rally with Turning Point Action planned in Gwinnett county, outside Atlanta, next week.

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Georgia jury indicts father and son on murder charges for school shooting

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Colt Gray, 14, and his father, Colin Gray, were indicted separately for the mass shooting at Apalachee high school

A grand jury indicted a father and son on murder charges on Thursday in a mass shooting at Apalachee high school in Winder, Georgia.

Georgia media outlets reported that the Barrow county grand jury meeting in Winder indicted 14-year-old Colt Gray on a total of 55 counts, including four counts of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, plus aggravated assault and cruelty to children. Grand jurors formally charged his father, Colin Gray, with 29 counts, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.

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Georgia election rules passed by Trump-backed board are ‘illegal’, declares judge

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Fulton judge invalidates seven new rules, including one that requires ballots be hand-counted after polls close

A Georgia judge has declared that seven new election rules recently passed by the state election board are “illegal, unconstitutional and void”.

Fulton county superior court judge Thomas Cox issued the order Wednesday after holding a hearing on challenges to the rules. The rules that Cox invalidated include three that had gotten a lot of attention – one that requires that the number of ballots be hand-counted after the close of polls and two that had to do with the certification of election results.

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US south-east reels from ‘catastrophic’ devastation from Hurricane Helene

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Communities are stranded, over 200 people have died with more expected, and more than 700,000 are without power

Rescue crews in parts of the south-eastern US were still searching on Friday for those missing as they entered the eighth day since Hurricane Helene roared ashore in Florida and became the deadliest mainland hurricane in the US since Katrina in 2005.

The death toll could grow higher, having surpassed 200 on Thursday, while the sheer scale of the devastation from wind and floods has slowed efforts to find many people’s loved ones and also get supplies to stranded communities and restore power to more than 700,000 people.

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Hurricane Helene: more than 200 dead as search for missing people continues

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Hurricane that made landfall as category 4 last week is described as one of deadliest storms in US history

A week after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the US, search-and-rescue teams continue to look for missing people in parts of the south-east that were devastated by the storm, and nearly a million people in the region remain without power.

Officials have reported at least 215 deaths across six states, and have warned that the toll is expected to rise as recovery efforts continue. A separate NBC News tally found that at least 202 people have died, including at least 98 in North Carolina, 19 in Florida, 33 in Georgia, 39 in South Carolina, 11 in Tennessee and two in Virginia.

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