The race is on to save Georgian democracy

Democracies fall like dominoes. And while Georgia’s democracy recently received a colossal Russian push, we vow not to be the next domino to fall.

To many in Europe, countries like Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia seem like faraway lands. But our nations are standing on the frontlines of a battle of ideas, a battle of values. Where freedom confronts tyranny. Where light meets darkness. If our domino falls, Europe is next.

Since the Oct. 26 election debacle, which one European observer described aptly as “a festival of fraud,” the Russian-backed ruling Georgian Dream party has shown its hand to the world. Implementing their Putin playbook in their election theft, they are racing ahead toward creating an authoritarian regime in the spirit of their Kremlin backers.

In fact, since taking power on a mandate to bring Georgia closer to the West in 2012, they have spent the last decade doing completely the opposite. Led by oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, they have pursued a platform of illiberal, democratic backsliding — most notably passing the infamous Russian Law, and more recently calling to ban the opposition parties from parliament.

Aware of reports that the government-controlled Central Election Committee had already been hacked by the Russians, thousands of observers and civil society did their best to protect the vote. Yet as soon as the balloting opened, the reports of widespread fraud, violence and ballot box-stuffing started to stream in. Far from a celebration of democracy, this was a glimpse of the fear society that we once knew and had hoped never to see again.

Indeed, when the official farcical landslide for the ruling party was eventually announced (with results American exit pollsters HarrisX and Edison have described as “statistically impossible”), we had officially arrived in “Orwellia.”

The next few days saw the great global proponents of authoritarianism from Hungary, Venezuela and even Iran recognize the ruling party’s victory. Meanwhile, the rest of the free world has so far resisted. U.S. President Biden released a statement that he is “deeply alarmed” by the “democratic backsliding.”

As we stand, President Salome Zourabichvili is the last official branch of power siding resolutely with the opposition, the people and the voices of freedom. Her resolve and determination are manifest in the spirit of our brave peaceful protestors, young and old, who over recent days have faced the fists and ferocious watercannons of the masked riot police.

But we refuse to lie down.

We understand very well what inaction and accepting this election result means. It means accepting that Georgia will not be free, will not be European and will not be prosperous. It means accepting that our young people will leave in even greater numbers, never to return; that unemployment will go up; and salaries will continue to fall. It means accepting that Georgia’s future is with Russia.

There is, however, a solution to this crisis: to annul these illegitimate Russian elections and to call for new, free and independent elections. Indeed, our courts can still make history and respect the voice of the people and to save Georgia.

But if they do not, we will not stop. We will go to the streets as one, to protect our voice and our future. Acceptance is not an option. Our cries are for Europe. Our calls are for democracy. And our time is now.

Georgia is one of the most Western-leaning nations in the world — a country where in every survey, nearly to 90 percent of the public wants a European future. Our values are your values. We have experienced the yoke of oppression, and we demand the freedoms and rights of a liberal democracy.

The forces of freedom in the region and globally must therefore know that this is their struggle too. Should we kowtow to the Kremlin, or compromise on our values, our children will never forgive us. And your children will be next.

The West must make patently clear that without new, fair, internationally organized democratic elections, the ruling party will be considered pariahs by the West, with their leaders sanctioned and ostracized. After all, democracy is built on the foundations of justice. Impunity only breeds more authoritarianism.

We therefore call on our western partners to join us — to stand with the people of Georgia in their hour of need. This is not just about Georgia. This is about the future of western democracy.

Nika Gvaramia is the leader of the Coalition for Change, Georgia’s largest opposition party. He spent over 400 days in jail as a political prisoner.