kyivpost.com: Georgia PM Vows Sweeping Crackdown After 'Foiled Coup'

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze vowed opposition arrests Sunday after police used force against opposition protesters who tried to enter the presidential palace in what he termed was a coup bid during a controversial election.

Saturday’s local polls were the ruling populist Georgian Dream party’s first electoral test since a disputed parliamentary vote a year ago plunged the Black Sea nation into turmoil and prompted Brussels to effectively freeze the EU-candidate country’s accession bid.

The central election commission said Georgian Dream had secured municipal council majorities in every municipality and that its candidates scored landslide wins in mayoral races in all cities.

In power since 2012, the party has faced accusations of democratic backsliding, drifting toward Russia and derailing Georgia’s EU-membership bid enshrined in the country’s constitution.

Georgian Dream rejects the allegations, saying it is safeguarding “stability” in the country of four million, while it claims a Western “deep state” seeks to drag the country into the war in Ukraine with the help of opposition parties.

Analysts say its blunt pitch – claiming that the opposition wants war, but it wants peace – resonates in rural areas and is amplified by disinformation.

A recent survey by the Institute of Social Studies and Analysis put the party’s approval rating at about 36 percent, against 54 percent for opposition groups.

Jeff