Today, November 8, the leaders of opposition parties who passed the threshold in the parliamentary elections met with the Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, Pawel Herczynski. After the meeting, they provided comments to the media.
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"It was a very useful and informative conversation with the head of the EU representation regarding the situation in the country, how we evaluate the October 26 elections, and the evidence gathered so far, which directly confirms that the election process was hijacked by Georgian Dream. We discussed what the European Union can do for the Georgian people at this moment," said Badri Japaridze, the founder of the Strong Georgia coalition.
According to Tina Bokuchava, the leader of Unity - National Movement, the issue of an international investigation into the elections was discussed. As Bokuchava stated, everyone understands very well that it is impossible to conduct an independent investigation under the current conditions of the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia.
"The investigation can only be conducted with the involvement of international actors, and in this case, the involvement of the European Union is the most appropriate, as Georgia is a candidate country.
For the European Union to make a decision on whether to open or not open negotiations, cancel or not cancel the visa-free regime, or impose or not impose individual sanctions, it is essential, including for the European Union, to have 100% reliable information confirming that these elections were completely rigged," said Bokuchava.
Nika Gvaramia, leader of the Coalition for Change, also participated in the meeting and stated that the European community is fully informed about the elections.
"Our interest lies in the international evaluation mission from the European Union, which will assess to what extent the events in Georgia align with the fourth point of the European recommendations, specifically the point on fair and free elections. It is clear that they do not, but studying this and obtaining an official document will be very helpful for us, both within the country and internationally," said Gvaramia.
The representative of the fourth party that passed the threshold, Gakharia for Georgia, did not attend the meeting with the EU ambassador.
Almost 2 weeks have passed since the October 26 parliamentary elections. As per the Central Election Commission's data, 53.93% of voters, or 1 120 011 people, voted for Georgian Dream. However, the legitimacy of this result is not recognized by the opposition parties that passed the threshold, among which the votes were distributed as follows:
- Coalition for Change (11.037%)
- Unity - National Movement (10.164%)
- Strong Georgia (8.814%)
- Gakharia for Georgia (7.771%)
Opposition parties and President Salome Zurabishvili claim that the elections were "completely falsified." The European Union did not congratulate the Georgian Dream on their election victory.
