On November 21, former Prime Minister of Georgia and the leader of Gakharia-For Georgia party Giorgi Gakharia held a briefing and called on the representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia not to attend the opening session of the 11th convocation of the Parliament to show that they don’t recognize the legitimacy of the fraudulent election results.
In particular, Gakharia appealed to the Ambassador of the United States and the Ambassadors of the EU member states to refrain from attending the parliamentary session in order to protect the right of Georgian citizens to participate in meaningful elections, which are the “most important democratic institution”. He noted that many Georgian citizens are protesting the results of the October 26 elections, and the heads of Western states and the EU questioning these results, stating that the legitimacy of the elections can only be achieved through a full and independent investigation.
The ex-PM emphasized that the parliamentary elections were “systematically rigged” with three main types of violations: violation of the privacy of the vote, formation of district and precinct commissions with people connected to or under the influence of Georgian Dream, and systematic use of personal information of citizens. He noted that the crisis created by these fraudulent elections could have been avoided only if GD had released the list of people who participated in the elections, but the ruling party not only refused to do so, but also started a “fake investigation”, which gave them the opportunity to keep the devices containing the lists” in “prisoners”.
Gakharia also called on Georgian citizens to participate in the process of denying legitimacy to the new Parliament by joining a mass protest on the day of its first session and clearly showing that they will not give legitimacy to the election results until all questions are answered by a full, independent and neutral investigation.
Speaking about the cooperation with other opposition parties that crossed the 5% threshold, Gakharia said that his party cooperates with them on the two main issues – “stolen elections” and the return of the country to the European path. On other issues, including the form of protests, he said his party has different views and ideas.
Commenting on the plans to relinquish MPs’ mandates and the party’s funding from the state budget, Gakharia said that it is “nobody’s business” how and in what form the party decides to deny legitimacy to the parliament. He said that they will not fall victim to the “pressure and intimidation” coming from both sides – the GD and the UNM, and on the one hand they will not follow the UNM’s “group retreats”, while on the other hand they will not give the GD “leverage” to decide when to withdraw the party’s mandates. Regarding party funding, he said that the party will refuse to accept it, but in what form “is nobody’s business”.
For Georgia’s leader also spoke about the party’s communication with EU representatives, saying that the main message they share with the EU is that punitive actions against the government shouldn’t include stopping or even pausing visa liberalization, because it would be an “unfair” punitive measure directed against the citizens and would feed GD’s plans to “close Europe” for Georgians and leave only Russia open for free travel. He said that the EU should consider punitive measures only in the form of personal sanctions against those “corrupt” GD representatives who “killed the European future of the country” and “rigged the elections”.
Commenting on the opposition’s demand to hold new elections in the country under international supervision, Gakharia emphasized that he “doesn’t believe” in such elections, saying that new elections will only be meaningful if the administration of six Georgian institutions is completely changed. The institutions he named are: the Central Election Commission, the Public Defender, the Personal Data Protection Service, the State Auditor, the Special Investigation Service and the State Security Service of Georgia.
Regarding the recent political developments, Gakharia was asked about his opinion on the UNM representative in the CEC splashing black paint on the Chair of the CEC, to which he replied that he personally may not like such forms of protest, but this “radicalization” comes from the GD’s violent actions, including beating demonstrators during protests or in front of their homes, attacking opposition members, intimidating people through aggressive phone calls, etc.
A journalist from the pro-government TV channel Imedi asked Gakharia about his opinion on protesters obstructing the work of the channel’s crew, to which he replied that he “condemns” any kind of obstruction of journalistic activities, that people make their own choices about which media they want to work in, and that in any case “journalists should be free”.
Finally, he was also asked about his opinion on whether the anti-LGBTQ+ legislative package should be abolished, to which he said that For Georgia was the only opposition party that participated in the deliberations of these laws and even voted in favor of several laws concerning children’s rights, and that abolishing this or the “Russian law” now would be meaningless because after these “bad actions” GD had done a “worse action” by rigging the elections, and that abolishing the law now would not change the situation.
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