Senior Georgian Dream party members warn that the opposition, backed by the West, is trying to stage a coup. The opposition fears vote rigging and complains of pressure on voters critical of the government and attacks on its political leaders.

…the ruling party’s warnings that the pro-European parties could impose sanctions on Russia, which remains an important market for many Georgian companies, fall on fertile ground, even though these parties did not make such campaign promises.

Given the high level of dissatisfaction with all parties and the indecisiveness of voters, the outcome of the election appears to be open. However, even before the polls opened, both the ruling party and the liberal opposition, including President Salome Zurabishvili, predicted defeat for their respective opponents and refused to accept the results.

With Russia looming large in the background, it is certain that Putin will do everything in his power to prevent peaceful protests from bringing about a change of government, as was the case in Armenia in 2018. Georgian opposition politicians have also expressed concern about a scenario similar to the fraudulent August 9 presidential election in Belarus, where the Lukashenka regime repressed tens of thousands of Belarusians.