Georgian president calls for new elections to resolve political crisis

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has called for new parliamentary elections in order to resolve a political crisis that followed last month’s vote, which the opposition said was rigged in favour of the ruling party.

“We are now facing a crisis,” Zurabishvili said Monday at a press conference, where she called for “new elections so that Georgia could have a legitimate parliament, a legitimate government”.

“Our friends are here to join us in seeking out ways to help Georgia emerge from this crisis,” Zurabishvili said, referring to a group of MPs from eight European countries, including from France and Germany, who visited Georgia on Monday.

The pro-Western opposition has refused to recognise the results of the 26 October election, which the ruling Georgian Dream party said it had won by 54 percent.

Zurabishvili said the election was “controlled and manipulated by one party” and has accused Russia of interference.

The opposition has refused to enter the newly-elected parliament, which it deems “illegitimate.”

A group of Georgia’s leading election monitors said earlier that they had uncovered evidence large-scale electoral fraud that swayed results in favour of Georgian Dream.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Tbilisi to protest the alleged fraud.

The European Union and the United States have called for a probe into what they called electoral “irregularities”.

Ahead of the election, Brussels had warned the vote would determine Georgia’s chances of joining the bloc.

Credit: rfi

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