In a message disseminated by his press office Pashinian acknowledged “the impressive victory” of the Georgian Dream party.
Georgia’s Central Election Commission has published the preliminary results of the elections, indicating that the party led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili garnered 54 percent of the vote. Three of the four opposition parties that gained seats in Georgia’s parliament do not accept the election results.
In his message to Kobakhidze, Pashinian, in particular, wrote: “The continuous development of relations with Georgia is one of the foreign-policy priorities of the Armenian government. I am hopeful that during your leadership in Georgia during the upcoming years, and through our joint efforts, cooperation between Armenia and Georgia will steadily develop and expand.”
The Georgian prime minister has also received a congratulatory message from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who also invited him to visit Baku.
The Saturday ballot in Georgia is widely seen as a defining moment for the former Soviet country, which has strived to integrate with the European Union and NATO over the past two decades.
Georgian Dream portrayed the elections as a choice between peace and war, claiming that an opposition victory would drag Georgia into another war with Russia. The two countries fought a brief war in August 2008 that cemented Russian control over part of Georgia’s territory.
The opposition framed the vote as a choice between the West and Russia and between democracy and authoritarianism, a narrative echoed by officials in the United States and Europe, who have been critical of Georgian Dream for democratic backsliding.
Tensions were high in the run-up to the vote, with Georgian Dream claiming the West was interfering in the election and the opposition accusing Russia of spreading disinformation.