Shevardnadze Calls for Dialogue, as Georgia Braces in Rallies
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Security forces at the Republic Square |
The National Movement and Burjanadze-Democrats opposition alliances called for the people to gather in the central square of Tbilisi at 3 pm on November 8 to protest against the manipulation of the election results.
The main highways connecting western and eastern parts of Georgia with the capital city Tbilisi became an impasse this morning as interior troops and the police bloc blocked all the entrances of Tbilisi. The police are stopping all the buses en route to Tbilisi. The opposition says the authorities fear that the people living in the regions would join the protesters in Tbilisi.
On November 7 the protest rally in western Georgian town of Zugdidi was attacked by the unknown gunmen injuring at least two people. Mikheil Saakashvili, leader of the National Movement blamed the authorities and President Shevardnadze for the incident. “Their gunfire will not stop us. People are fed up of Shevardnadze’s regime,” Mikheil Saakashvili said.
In his live televised address on November 7 Eduard Shevardnadze called on the opposition for the dialogue.
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Police preparing to guard State |
“Maintenance of the stabilization is our prime goal. We must not sacrifice stability to the interests of the several political parties. I will not admit it,” Shevardnadze added.
He called on the students not to participate in the protest rallies organized by the opposition leaders.
The Central Election Commission still fails to announce final results of the November 2 parliamentary elections, which according to the international observers suffered with “spectacular irregularities.”
With about 90% of votes counted the Revival Union, led by head of Adjara Autonomous Republic Aslan Abashidze and the President Shevardnadze’s election bloc For New Georgia lead the election results. The opposition National Movement, led by Mikheil Saakashvili, is downgraded on the third place with 18,5%, followed by the Labor Party – 11,7% and the Burjanadze-Democrats – 7,6%.
The U.S. has already expressed its concern for several times during this week regarding the delay of announcement final results of the vote tally. Department of State official said Washington continues “to follow the post-election developments in Georgia, watching as the process of tabulation and reporting of the vote goes forward.”
“Timely tabulation of the votes is a very essential element of the process, and we have had serious concerns about the delays involved in providing a full and accurate vote count, so we’ve expressed our concerns publicly about some of these issues already, and we continue to follow them very, very carefully,” Richard Boucher, the U.S. Department of States Spokesman said at a news briefing on November 7.