Georgian demonstrators rallied in protest Sunday over parliamentary election results which saw the “Russian friendly” Georgian Dream Party win the majority vote by 53.93 percent. The election was initially disputed and deemed “illegitimate” by President Salome Zurahishvila and the opposition parties until the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) confirmed Georgian Dream’s victory on Saturday.

Critics of the Georgian Dream party are concerned with the party’s seemingly close ties to Russia and impact Georgia’s accession to EU membership, which has been halted in the past. Last week, protests took place over allegations of Russian interference in the election results. President Salome Zourabichvili asserted in an interview that the elections were “stolen” by Russia.

Earlier, the International Election Observation Mission released a report which outlined that there were “irregularities on election day,” which may have impacted the results. Voter intimidation and secrecy were also reported. Two major opposition parties, Coalition for Change and Unity-UNM have officially renounced their MP mandates in response to the “illegitimate” election results.

The CEC confirmed the party’s win of the October 26 elections on Saturday in a session met with protest when David Kirtadza, member of the United National Movement, threw black paint on the CEC chairman before the results were announced. Kirtadza accused the CEC chairman of pro-Russia sentiment as opposed to pro-EU sentiment. The CEC confirmed that Georgian Dream now held 89 seats in parliament.

Protests have been sweeping the country since the initial election results in October. On Friday evening, Tbilisi State University students held mass protests, and there were protests outside of the CEC headquarters, which resulted in detentions. Some students at a UK university, the London School of Economics, have also protested in solidarity.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accused the president of “failing to appoint the first session of Parliament”, stating:

We assume that “formal” President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, will once again violate the Constitution by failing to appoint the first session of Parliament. In such a case, the Parliament of Georgia will convent automatically on the tenth day after the official election results are published, i.e., on November 25.

DroaParty member Marika Mikiashvili responded to Kobakhidze’s statement on X (formerly Twitter):

We have an illegitimate Parliament convening itself without the President’s approval on November 25, and in January this illegitimate Parliament is set to elect a new, also illegitimate-by-default President. In mere weeks, there will be no legitimate institution left in Georgia.

Coalition for Change has also announced that it has “evidence of election fraud,” which it plans to reveal.