Georgians vote in election over future in Europe![]() October 26, 2024 - 11:38 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Georgians are going to the polls on Saturday, October 26 in a decisive vote on their push to join the European Union, the BBC reports. Some see this election as the most crucial vote since Georgians backed independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. "I voted for a new Georgia," said pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili. The governing Georgian Dream party is widely expected to come first, but four opposition groups believe they can combine forces to remove it from power and revive Georgia's EU process. Four out of every five voters are said to back joining the EU in this South Caucasus state, which fought a five-day war with Russia in 2008. It was only last December that the EU made Georgia a candidate. But a few months ago it froze that bid, accusing the government of democratic backsliding, over a Russia-style law that requires groups to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive 20% of funding from abroad. About 3.5 million Georgians are eligible to vote in an election that the opposition is calling a choice between Europe or Russia, but which the government frames as a matter of peace or war. Georgian Dream, known as GD, is set to win about a third of the vote according to opinion polls, although they are widely seen as unreliable. If GD is to be unseated, all four of the main opposition groups will have to win upwards of 5% of the vote to qualify for the 150-seat parliament. ![]() ![]() Azerbaijani authorities report that they have already resettled 3,000 people in the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Stepanakert. On June 10, Azerbaijani President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will leave for Turkey on a working visit. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. ![]() ![]() Partner news | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |