Georgia's president describes the elections as “completely rigged” and calls for protests

Salome Zurabishvili does not want to recognize the results of the parliamentary elections, and instead calls for mass demonstrations. Previously, it was officially announced that “Georgian Dream” had won. The opposition blocs do not recognize the result.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili described her country's parliamentary elections as completely fraudulent and blamed them on a “Russian special operation.” She said in Tbilisi that she did not recognize the result and called for protests on Monday. Earlier, it was officially announced that the ruling Georgian Dream Party, led by the country's richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili, won the elections that took place in the Republic of the South Caucasus. The opposition coalition that received the largest number of votes in the parliamentary elections does not want to assume its mandate due to suspicion of fraud in the elections.

“I do not recognize the election results,” Zurabishvili said on Sunday. Saturday's elections, which were won by the ruling pro-Moscow Georgian Dream party, were, according to official results, “a complete fraud.”

Zurabishvili called for mass protests on Monday. She added: “We are witnesses and victims of a special Russian operation, which is a modern form of hybrid warfare against the Georgian people,” without specifying these accusations.
Imprisoned Georgian opposition politician Mikheil Saakashvili had previously called for widespread protests. “The time has come for mass protests,” the former prime minister said on Facebook. “We must show the world that we are fighting for freedom and that we are a people who will not tolerate injustice,” wrote Saakashvili, who belongs to the main opposition party UNM.

“Inequality, pressures and tensions”

European Union Council President Charles Michel called on Georgia's electoral authorities to quickly investigate suspected electoral irregularities. The Central Electoral Commission and other responsible authorities must “carry out their duty and investigate and evaluate election irregularities and related allegations quickly, transparently and independently,” Michel wrote in the online service

Election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and NATO said in a joint statement that the vote was disrupted due to “inequality (between the candidates), pressures and tensions.” They expressed doubts about the official result.

On Sunday, after counting the votes in more than 99 percent of the electoral districts, the Electoral Commission announced that the ruling Georgian Dream Party had won 54 percent of the votes, while the pro-Western opposition coalition received 37.58 percent. The coalition describes the official results as “fraudulent” and declares its victory in the elections. (APA/AFP/AFP).