CEC chairwoman Tamar Zhvania is confronted by an opposition member of the CEC during an announcement of preliminary results.

TBILISI, DFWatch–Eight of the nine political parties which qualified for seats in Georgia’s new parliament declare the October 31 election fraudulent and demand a new election and the resignation of the head of the Central Election Commission.

Eight of the parties which achieved more than one percent of votes – the threshold for getting into parliament – refuse to accept the results and will boycott parliament unless another election is held.

Surprisingly, also the far-right Alliance of Patriots signed the declaration, an outlier party that the rest of the opposition has dubbed a stooge for the ruling Georgian Dream.

In its declaration, the opposition parties demand to cancel the election results and hold a new election. Additionally, they claim that the Central Election Commission (CEC) participated in rigging the elections and call for the resignation of CEC head Tamar Zhvania.

The commission’s figures indicate that Georgian Dream (GD), the country’s ruling political force presided over by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, got over 48 percent in the proportional vote, which is enough to form a government on its own.

The opposition has also declared a boycott of the runoffs in single-constituency electoral districts, which means all additional 30 seats go to GD.

Altogether, GD will probably get 92 out of 150 seats in the new parliament and proceed unrivaled for the next four years, if nothing changes.

If the opposition goes through with its boycott, many seats will be empty when the new parliament convenes. According to the Georgian constitution, over half of MPs are needed for a newly elected parliament to become legitimate. However, some bills require two thirds of the total number of MPs to pass, namely constitutional changes.