Opposition accuses Georgian Dream party of ‘constitutional coup’ after securing 54% of the vote with 99% of precincts counted

Georgia’s ruling party has won the parliamentary election, the electoral commission said early on Sunday, in a blow for the country’s long-held aspiration for EU membership.

Georgia’s opposition did not admit defeat, accusing the ruling party of a “constitutional coup” and promising to announce protests, setting the stage for a potential political crisis that could further polarise the Caucasus country.

The commission said that the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party had won 54% of the vote, with more than 99% of precincts counted.

The result for GD would thwart the opposition’s hopes for a pro-western coalition of four blocs and effectively stall the country’s aspirations for EU integration.

Voters in the country of almost 4 million people on Saturday headed to the polls in a watershed election to decide whether the increasingly authoritarian GD party, which has been in power since 2012 and steered the country into a conservative course away from the west and closer to Russia, secures another four-year term.