Opposition Refuses to Accept Election Results, Calls for Early Parliamentary Polls

The United Opposition, a coalition led by the United National Movement, refuses to accept the results of the presidential elections and calls for holding early parliamentary polls.

The announcement was made by Grigol Vashadze, the presidential candidate of the United Opposition, at a gathering of supporters in Tbilisi Concert Hall on November 29.

Vashadze opened his remarks by thanking voters for their support, but said Georgia “did not have elections; we had a criminal farce conducted in conditions of criminal terror.”

“Georgia has no President; it is Bidzina Ivanishvili who has the President… The Georgian Dream has no moral right to have a constitutional majority,” Vashadze said, calling for early parliamentary elections based on fully proportional or regional-proportional system.

He then announced a rally to be held in Tbilisi on Sunday, December 2, to make these demands.

“We have always been and will stay within the framework of constitutionality and legality… It will be a peaceful manifestation, which will show the so called government what is really European and really Georgian,” Vashadze said.

Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, UNM’s honorary chairman, addressed the supporters via Skype, saying he does not recognize elections and supports Vashadze in his calls for early parliamentary polls “to put an end to Ivanishvili’s feudal rule.”

The opposition gathering was announced in the evening of November 28, shortly after Saakashvili’s calls for civil disobedience.

The presidential runoff was held on November 28. The ruling party-backed candidate Salome Zurabishvili obtained 59.52% of the votes, while her challenger – Grigol Vashadze finished with 40.48% of the votes.

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