Georgia's election turmoil: Opposition cries foul over alleged manipulation
Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the Georgian Dream party, which won the parliamentary elections in Georgia on Saturday, has been accused of conducting a special operation aimed at aligning the country with Russia, stated Mamuka Khazaradze, leader of the opposition bloc Strong Georgia, on Sunday.
"It is perfectly clear what happened. Bidzina carried out a special operation under a code name received from the KGB. The election results were completely falsified. They took the people's votes and are preparing the country for Russia. They won't succeed! I will never agree to this deceit. Never!" wrote the movement leader Lelo for Georgia, which is part of the centrist-liberal bloc Strong Georgia, on social media.
The head of the opposition party for Georgia, Giorgi Gakharia, claimed that the election results do not reflect the people's will. He noted: "This is not a time to wring our hands. We must all resort to wise forms of protest aimed primarily at defending the choice of our citizens, defending the European future of our country, and defending the institution of elections as such," he announced.
Both Strong Georgia and the For Georgia party have, according to official data, surpassed the 5-percent electoral threshold. However, the opposition and social observers believe numerous irregularities occurred during the voting.
Reaction of the opposition to the election results
On Saturday evening, Tina Bokuchava, leader of the United National Movement, the former ruling party founded by former President Mikheil Saakashvili, announced that the group does not recognize the election results. According to the party's chairwoman, Georgia's Central Election Commission "fulfilled a dirty order" from Ivanishvili.
Nika Gvaramia, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, also stated that his bloc does not recognize the results and accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of staging a "coup." He added, "The procedure of election falsification has been detailed, and the public will learn more about it on Sunday. The elections were stolen. This is a constitutional coup. Georgian Dream is the author of the constitutional coup and will be held accountable as provided by the legislation of Georgia," said Gvaramia.
According to official results, the ruling party, which won about 54 percent of the votes, maintains that the elections were peaceful and accuses the opposition of being unable to accept defeat. Prime Minister Irakli Kobachidze also accused opposition television crews of organizing provocations.
