International
The ruling party in Georgia gets an absolute majority in the elections
The ruling party Sueño Georgiano has the absolute majority in the parliamentary elections of Georgia by obtaining 54.086% of the votes with 99.6% of the ballot.
This was announced by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) after the manual recount of the results, which then places the opposition blocs Coalition for Change, with 10.8%, and Unity -composed of the United National Movement founded by the imprisoned former Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili, and the Renaissance Strategy party-, with 10.12%.
The other two opposition blocs, Georgia Fuerte and Gajaria for Georgia, achieved 8.78% and 7.76% respectively, so that the four opposition blocs access Parliament by exceeding the 5% threshold.
Worst results in the capital
The results of Sueño Georgiano in Tbilisi, where the ballot has already ended, were worse, since it obtained 45.54% of the votes, while the opposition blocs added 45.8% of the support.
The results of the ruling party abroad were also lower, where 74.62% of the votes were scrutinized, only 17.73% of the votes, giving in to the opposition blocs Coalition for Changes (29.08%) and Unity (20.84%).
For their part, the opposition blocs Georgia Fuerte and Gajaria for Georgia obtained 14.05 and 8.45% respectively.
Almost two hours after the closing of the polling stations, the CEC gave the first ballots, according to which Sueño Georgiano obtained the majority of the votes sufficient to form a single government.
Three of the four opposition blocs – Coalition for Change, Unity and Strong Georgia – declared that they will not recognize the elections and accused Georgian Dream of having usurped power.
Georgian opposition candidates give up their seats in protest after the ruling victory
The first twenty candidates on the list of the pro-European opposition bloc Coalition for Change today resigned their mandates as deputies in protest against the results of Saturday’s parliamentary elections, in which the ruling party Sueño Georgiano won, which the opposition accuses of being related to the Kremlin.
“The elections were falsified and the results are illegitimate. We do not want to legitimize them with the votes that were stolen from the people of Georgia and we renounce the mandates,” said party list leader Nana Malashjia.
The Coalition for Changes bloc was the second most voted political force in these elections, collecting 11.3% of the votes, which gives them the right to 18 seats.
In turn, the United National Movement party, founded by imprisoned former President Mikhail Saakashvili and who is part of the opposition bloc Unidad also announced that it will boycott the Parliament led by Sueño Georgiano.
“Naturally, as we said that we do not recognize the results of the elections, this means that we do not plan to participate in (the sessions of) Parliament. I am sure that there is no doubt about it, when it comes to the Unity bloc,” said the party leader, Tinatin Bokuchava.
The situation reedits what happened in the 2020 parliamentary elections, also rejected by the opposition, which boycotted the work of Parliament and organized massive protests in front of the legislature, some of them violent.
The executive secretary of Sueño Georgiano, Mamuka Midnaradze, proposed to the entire opposition “not to join Parliament.”
“Then a good working environment will be established in Parliament, without sabotage. That they remove all their lists from the Central Electoral Commission. And we will work,” he said.
Georgia President does not recognize election results
The President of Georgia, Salomé Zurabizhvili, today refused to recognize the results of the parliamentary elections held the day before in the Caucasian nation and called on Georgians to protest this Monday in front of Parliament.
“These elections cannot be recognized, I do not recognize them. Recognizing them means recognizing that Russia has entered Georgia. The elections were Russian, they used technologies to justify the falsifications,” he said in a speech offered from the presidential palace.
International
Meta Says Russia Seeks to Ban WhatsApp for Defending Secure Communication
U.S. tech giant Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, said that Russia is seeking to ban the messaging app because it “challenges government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication.”
Russian authorities have encouraged citizens to switch to state-backed applications, and in August they already blocked WhatsApp’s calling feature.
On Friday, the communications regulator Roskomnadzor claimed that the platform was being used to “organize and carry out terrorist acts in the country, recruit perpetrators, and facilitate fraud and other crimes.”
“If the messaging service does not comply with Russian law, it will be completely blocked,” the regulator warned.
WhatsApp remains one of Russia’s most widely used messaging services, alongside Telegram.
Moscow is pressuring both platforms to grant authorities access to user data upon request for investigations into fraud and activities the government labels as “terrorist.”
Human rights advocates fear the demand could be used to target critics of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin, or the war in Ukraine.
International
Archbishop Wenski criticizes Trump’s deportation policies, calls for stronger push for reform
The Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, has called for increased pressure on the U.S. Congress to advance comprehensive immigration reform and criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies, arguing that they “do nothing to help.”
“We need to apply more pressure on Congress so lawmakers can make the necessary changes. It is also important for the Administration to listen to our voice. We do not want to be anyone’s enemy—we are Americans,” Wenski said in an interview with EFE.
The religious leader, who heads one of the dioceses with the largest Latino and Haitian populations in the United States, issued a call to defend the rights of migrants. He also emphasized that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has maintained a strong and public stance in favor of migrants for decades.
International
Trump relaunches diplomatic push to finalize U.S.-Backed peace plan for Ukraine War
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his diplomatic team will resume meetings with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in an effort to pressure both sides to accept the peace plan proposed by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.
As part of this new round of talks, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will hold discussions with Ukrainian representatives to narrow differences on the remaining points of the agreement.
Trump also confirmed his intention to meet personally with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Putin, though he emphasized that such meetings will only take place “when the agreement is fully finalized or in its final stage.”
The president claimed that his administration has made “tremendous progress” toward resolving the conflict and reiterated that the war “never would have started” if he had been in the White House at the onset of the crisis.
The U.S.-backed peace plan consists of 28 points and has been revised following feedback from both sides. According to Trump, only “a few points of disagreement” remain under active discussion.
One of the most controversial aspects of the proposal is the suggestion that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region to Russia and limit the size of its armed forces. Kyiv is working closely with Washington to soften these clauses in search of an arrangement that does not compromise its sovereignty or security.
With this diplomatic push, Trump aims to solidify his role as the main mediator in the conflict and steer the war toward a political resolution after years of devastation, humanitarian crisis, and rising global geopolitical tensions.
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