Georgian opposition threatens to take people to the streets without recognizing the results of the elections | News from Germany on world events | DW

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In Georgia, the leader of the United National Movement (UNM), founded by ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili, and one of the candidates for mayor of Tbilisi Nikanor Melia, on Sunday afternoon, October 31, announced the mobilization of his supporters. He called on everyone to gather at the parliament building in Tbilisi at 19:00 (18:00 Moscow time) to announce further plans of the opposition, which did not recognize the results of the second round of municipal elections in Georgia. The politician called the voting results rigged, violent and stolen.

Protesters blocked an avenue in the center of Tbilisi

Demonstrators near the building of the Parliament of Georgia

By the beginning of the evening action in the capital, the square near the building of the Parliament of Georgia was occupied by about one and a half thousand people. Half an hour later, the number of protesters approximately doubled, and people immediately came out onto the six-lane carriageway of the central Rustaveli Avenue. The police had to block the entrances to the crowded area, but they did not interfere with the protesters.

After that, the rally began, which turned out to be quite short. The UNM leader only announced further tactics of protesting, in his opinion, falsified elections. According to Melia, at first the protest actions will be held in different cities of the country, and on November 7 in Tbilisi the opposition will hold the largest demonstration. The rally in the capital should gather even more people than the rally for the release of Mikhail Saakashvili on October 14, the politician said.

UNM leader Nikanor Melia in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi

Leader END Nikanor Melia

In addition, the UNM leader named the reasons for the non-recognition of the elections and said that the opposition will appeal against the ballots rejected by the election commissions. This time, the action was joined by other opposition parties – “Lelo for Georgia”, “Droa” and “European Georgia – a movement for freedom”, which on the eve of the second round of elections entered into a coalition with the UNM.

Results of the second round of elections in Georgia

According to the results of the vote, published by the Georgian CEC, candidates from the ruling Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia party won 19 out of 20 municipalities, and only one candidate from the opposition United National Movement became the mayor of Tsalenjikha in northwestern Georgia. And if in Tbilisi the situation was clear enough – the incumbent mayor Kakha Kaladze won there by a large margin, gaining 55.6 percent of the vote – then in other cities the situation is different.

Thus, in Batumi, the candidate from the united opposition Giorgi Kirtadze received 48.98 percent, while his opponent from the Georgian Dream got 51.02 percent. The difference between them was only 1200 votes, while 2071 ballots were canceled by the election commissions. This has caused outrage among the opposition, who believe that the authorities are deliberately canceling the votes cast for them. A similar situation has developed in Kutaisi and other cities.

Observer findings

In the afternoon of October 31, observers presented their results. A report from the non-governmental organization Transparency International-Georgia says that irregularities recorded during the second round of local elections could significantly affect the final result, since many constituencies recorded small differences in votes.

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) in its report indicated that violations identified in the second round “hindered the free expression of the will of citizens and could affect the results in some municipalities”. Experts named among the recorded incidents the facts of repeated voting, violations related to voter lists and mobile ballot boxes, cases of incorrect and deliberately incorrect cancellation of ballots.

The October 30 elections were observed by 149 international observers from 31 countries, including 142 experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and seven observers from the European Parliament. The head of the OSCE / ODIHR observation mission Albert Jonsson, presenting the assessment report on the second round of elections, noted that the campaign was competitive, the candidates generally had the opportunity to conduct it freely, but there were complaints of intimidation and pressure, and “acute dissonance in the context of resources played in favor of the ruling party ”.

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