The Daily Populous Tuesday October 29th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by telegraph.co.uk and submitted by TheTelegraph

A series of violations including bribery were reported on Sunday by the 57-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe but it stopped short of calling the result fraudulent.

On Tuesday, Georgia’s central election commission said it will recount ballots at some 14 per cent of polling stations.

The ruling party and the electoral commission say the vote was free and fair, while Western powers, including the EU, have called for investigations.

Mr Orban congratulated Georgian Dream on its “overwhelming victory” before travelling to Tbilisi on Monday in defiance of the concerns expressed by his fellow EU leaders.

On Tuesday, the day after the protests, he told reporters: “I read the assessment of international organisations and I see that nobody dares question that this election was a fair and democratic election.

“Alongside all the criticism nobody dared go that far,” added Mr Orban, who is Putin’s closest ally in the EU.

Hungary, which holds the European Council’s rotating presidency, has angered fellow EU and Nato members with its determination to maintain close ties with Russia, despite the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In July, Mr Orban went on what Budapest called a “peace mission” to Moscow, where he met Putin, and Beijing without coordinating with his EU partners.

OxterBird on October 29th, 2024 at 16:15 UTC »

As bad as european leaders calling this election rigged before any definitive evidence is presented, people don't care about what actually happened, they just rooting for their "team"

schmerz12345 on October 29th, 2024 at 14:50 UTC »

Remember Americans Orban is the kind of guy Trump wants to emulate. Government control of the media and universities. Unabated corruption.

BelicaPulescu on October 29th, 2024 at 14:45 UTC »

Remind me when was the last time these kind of guys cared about people wishes? They'd be celebrating their victory with the whole country banging at their doors demanding a reelection.