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%).

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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.

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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.”

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“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

Iran Reports 201 Dead, 747 Injured After U.S. and Israeli Strikes

The Iranian Red Crescent Society reported Sunday night (local time) that at least 201 people were killed and 747 injured following attacks carried out by Israel and the United States against the Islamic Republic.

A spokesperson for the humanitarian organization said more than 220 rescue teams have been deployed across affected areas and that relief operations are continuing without interruption. The official highlighted the difficulty of treating the large number of wounded and the urgent need for additional resources in impacted provinces.

Out of Iran’s 31 provinces, 24 have reported damage, according to a statement carried by the Isna news agency. This marks the first overall casualty toll released by Iranian state-affiliated media since the launch of the offensive.

Among the dead are 85 schoolgirls from a school in the southern city of Minab, according to the country’s judiciary. “The number of martyrs at the Minab girls’ school has risen to 85,” the local prosecutor’s office said, as quoted by the judiciary’s website, Mizan Online.

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian described the attack as a “savagery” that “constitutes a new black page in the record of countless crimes committed by the aggressors.”

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Meanwhile, the international community continues to monitor the situation closely amid concerns about possible further reprisals and the broader impact on Middle East stability, energy markets, and global security.

AFP noted that it was unable to independently verify the casualty figures or the circumstances surrounding the events.

International

Pope Leo XIV Urges End to ‘Spiral of Violence’ in Middle East

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for an end to the “spiral of violence” in the Middle East, following military strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran and subsequent retaliatory bombardments in the region.

“Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of enormous proportions, I urge the parties involved to assume their moral responsibility and stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” the pontiff told the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

Speaking during the Angelus prayer, the U.S.-born pope said stability and peace cannot be achieved through threats or weapons. “Stability and peace are not built with reciprocal threats or with arms that sow destruction, suffering and death, but only through reasonable, sincere and responsible dialogue,” he declared.

The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics also called for diplomacy to “regain its role” amid escalating tensions.

In addition, the pope urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to urgently resume dialogue after several days of clashes between the two countries.

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International

Security Council to Hold Emergency Meeting on Middle East Crisis

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday condemned the “military escalation in the Middle East” following attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes, just hours before an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.

“I call for the immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation,” Guterres said in a statement.

The Security Council is scheduled to meet on Saturday at 21:00 GMT (4:00 p.m. in New York) to address “the situation in the Middle East,” the United Nations announced.

The meeting, during which Guterres will deliver remarks, was convened at the request of France, Bahrain, Colombia, Russia and China, according to a diplomatic source.