Elections did not take place: the president of Georgia made an important statement

The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, said that the parliamentary elections held in October cannot be considered as having taken place, and urged not to stop the protests, reports UNN with reference to News Georgia.

“The elections in the country did not take place…it is imperative that they be held again as soon as possible,” Zurabishvili said at a special briefing.

Before that, during the day, she held consultations with the leaders of the opposition, which has been blocking one of the traffic junctions in the center of Tbilisi for more than a day, demanding new elections.

“Society should continue its actions… its protest. I want to congratulate the people who are standing on the street today and will probably stay overnight,” Zurabishvili said.

According to the president, the elections on October 26 “did not take place” and “the country is at risk of destabilization” related to the dual power. She believes that it is necessary to solve systemic problems and then hold new elections.

“One of the threats is destabilization, which can lead to dual power and deepening polarization… this is facilitated by the extremely aggressive propaganda of the government and its supporters. It chooses isolation as its partners, which is characteristic of the current government. At the same time, we are dealing with an economic and financial crisis that is facing us on the threshold with all the resulting consequences,” Zurabishvili said.

A new lawsuit

The president announced that on Tuesday she will file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court and challenge the results of the parliamentary elections due to a massive violation of the secrecy of the vote – it refers to the ballots on which a black circle next to the chosen party was highlighted on the reverse side.

Also, according to Zurabishvili, the voter’s right to vote was violated – in this case, claims to the organization of voting for Georgian migrants abroad.

“Not because I believe in the Constitutional Court, but because I want to fully test the conscience of those judges who will be faced with the choice of what kind of country we want to be and in what direction this country should move,” Zurabishvili said.

Zurabishvili’s plan

Zurabishvili said that the former government and parliament of Georgia should temporarily continue the work.

According to the Constitution, the first meeting of the new parliament after the elections is appointed by the president, which Zurabishvili is not going to do.

Zurabishvili said that she offers political parties, the government and society her vision of a way out of the current political crisis: the old parliament and the old government remain and new elections are being prepared.

According to her, the new elections should be preceded by an international investigation into the irregularities in the October vote in order to identify and correct systemic flaws “if we want to have new, fair, free and non-falsified elections.”

We will remind

This weekend, the Central Electoral Commission of Georgia approved the final protocol of the parliamentary elections held on October 26, which were not recognized by the opposition and the president.

None of the four opposition associations, which received a minority of parliamentary mandates, disagrees with the announced results.

The opposition is demanding a new vote and an international investigation into irregularities in the October 26 election, expressing distrust of investigative bodies and the judicial system.