The European Parliament has rejected the results of Georgia’s parliamentary election in October in which the pro-Russian ruling party won the majority of seats. The European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution on Thursday with overwhelming support, rejecting the legitimacy of Georgia’s parliamentary elections and calling for a new vote to be held within a year. The resolution was approved by 444 votes in favor, 72 against, and 82 abstentions.

Although some individual EU lawmakers and smaller political groups had previously voiced similar concerns after the 26 October election, this resolution marked the clearest statement from the EU in rejecting the election results, which granted the ruling Georgian Dream party another four-year term.

The European Parliament attributed the electoral irregularities to Georgian Dream, accusing the party of contributing to "continued democratic backsliding." It held the ruling party "fully responsible" for the violations, which included voter intimidation, vote manipulation, interference with election observers and media, and reported tampering with electronic voting machines.

The lawmakers asserted that the official results, as announced by Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC), “do not reliably reflect the will of the Georgian people.” Consequently, the resolution stated that the European Parliament does not recognize the election results and called on the international community to follow suit.

In line with Georgia's political opposition, the European Parliament also called for the elections to be re-run within a year, with rigorous international oversight and an independent election administration. This is not the first time the Parliament has passed such resolutions; similar measures were taken against Belarus and Venezuela over widely criticized elections. In other cases, like Serbia's 2023 parliamentary election, the Parliament called for investigations into irregularities without outright rejecting the results.

The resolution also urged the imposition of personal sanctions on Georgian officials and political leaders responsible for undermining democracy, violating electoral laws, and misusing state institutions. Key figures such as Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Tbilisi Mayor and Georgian Dream Secretary General Kakha Kaladze, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, and Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili were specifically named. It further called for a severe reduction in EU-level contacts with the Georgian government and parliament. Additionally, the resolution highlighted that Georgia’s EU integration had already been stalled due to recently passed "anti-democratic" laws.