European democrats, we defend democracy throughout Europe
For the past week, Georgians have been on the streets. Day and night, they have been calling for the rule of law to be re-established in their country, and for the European promise to be honoured. The demonstrators are facing increasingly violent and disproportionate repression, with opposition party leaders now having been arrested in an attempt by the Georgian authority to curb the protests. A 22- year-old is now in a coma, one of the hundreds who have been injured in their efforts to keep Georgian democracy alive. Against this backdrop and following a lawsuit by the President of the Republic Mrs Salome Zourabichvili to annul the election results, the Georgian Constitutional Court has just handed down its decision concerning the parliamentary elections held at the end of October: the results of the elections have been confirmed; there was no obvious. The Court will therefore not call new free, fair and equitable elections, as the Georgians demonstrating today would like. Yet this is the only possible way to ensure a return to calm and a peaceful transition of power in the country. Other European democracies are also facing assaults from the Kremlin, both through disinformation campaigns and interference in their electoral processes. In addition to Ukraine’s democracy, which is under relentless attack and siege by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Moldova, Romania and Georgia are all undergoing disinformation “blitz-campaigns” designed to cloud citizens’ awareness, despite the fact that democracy relies on enlightened, responsible voters.
In Georgia today, this interference is compounded by the reprehensible practices of the far-right Georgian Dream party: complete disregard for the rule of law, election rigging, and suspension of the country’s bid to join the EU, despite the expressed wish of almost 80% of Georgians. The European Democratic Party supports the Georgian President, the Georgian opposition and civil society in their fight to organize new elections and calls on Europe to stand by the Georgians. We must sanction the Georgian authorities blatantly attempting to subvert Georgian democracy and repress civil demonstrations with force.
The European Democrats also share the concerns of the Romanian authorities regarding the manipulation of social networks during the electoral campaign and call for vigilance and raising citizen’s awareness to ensure the protection of electoral processes. We further call on the Commission to take decisive action against non-compliant social media platforms that facilitate these disinformation campaigns within European democracies. We cannot stand idly by as Europe’s democratic institutions are eroded before our eyes.
