Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has described her country’s parliamentary elections as completely fraudulent and blamed it on a “Russian special operation”. She did not recognize the result, she said in Tbilisi and called for protests on Monday.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has been officially declared the winner of the elections in the South Caucasus republic. The opposition alliance with the most votes in the parliamentary elections in Georgia does not want to take up its mandate due to suspicions of election fraud.
The opposition does not recognize the result
The election commission declared the ruling party of the country’s richest man, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the winner with about 54 percent of the vote. The opposition blocs do not recognize the result.
“I do not recognize the election results,” Zurabishvili said on Sunday. Saturday’s elections, which according to official results were won by the pro-Moscow ruling Georgian Dream party, were a “total fraud”.
The president calls for mass protests
Zurabishvili called for mass protests on Monday. “We are witnesses and victims of a Russian special operation, a modern form of hybrid war against the Georgian people,” she said, without specifying those accusations.
Jailed Georgian opposition politician Mikhail Saakashvili had previously called for widespread protests. “Now is the time for mass protests,” the former head of government said on the online network Facebook. “We must show the world that we are fighting for freedom and that we are a people that will not tolerate injustice,” wrote Saakashvili, who belongs to the main opposition UNM party.
EU Council President Charles Michel called on election authorities in Georgia to quickly investigate suspected election irregularities. The Central Electoral Commission and other responsible authorities must “fulfill their duty and promptly, transparently and independently investigate and evaluate the election irregularities and related allegations,” Michel wrote in the online service X, citing reports from international election observers.
Election observers doubt the official results
Election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and NATO said in a joint statement that the vote was marred by “inequality (among the candidates), pressure and tensions”. They expressed their doubts about the official results.
On Sunday, after counting votes in more than 99 percent of constituencies, the electoral commission declared the ruling Georgian Dream party the winner with 54 percent of the vote, while the pro-Western opposition alliance received 37.58 percent. The latter describes the official results as “falsified” and claims victory in the elections.
Source: Krone
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