After a day of intensive consultations with opposition parties following the 26 October parliamentary elections, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili held a briefing in which she said she would not recognize the official results.
She thanked all the voters who voted for Georgia’s European future: “There were lots of you, you won in these elections and no one has a right to take this European future away from us.”
President Zurabishvili thanked observers and media who, who in difficult circumstances, did everything to protect the votes.
But she said “there were so many violations that it was impossible to detect them all”. She said: “We witnessed something very unusual: this was a total falsification, a total stealing of votes, using all the tricks that can be used to falsify elections, and on top of that – the use of modern technologies to whitewash the elections.
She said it was unprecedented, adding: “We were witnesses and victims of a Russian special operation, a new type of hybrid warfare waged against our people.
“On that day we were deprived of the right to vote. These were Russian elections, they stole the electoral institution from us, and they stole our constitutional right to vote, including from our emigrants.”
“I am grateful to our international partners who exposed the violations,” she said, but noted that it was not enough.
“I want to say, as the only independent institution, that I don’t recognize these elections. These elections cannot be recognized. We won’t accept this.” She added: “We are going to stand together and say: We will not accept this new form of subjugation by Russia”.
The President called on citizens to gather on Rustaveli Avenue on October 28 and “tell each other and the world that we don’t recognize these elections, we defend our constitutional right and every vote and our future. It is our right to have just, free and fair elections. This will be a symbolic act to show the world our will”.
She called on international partners to stand by the Georgians.
“Nothing can make these elections legitimate,” she concluded.