Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili accused the ruling party Georgian Dream of choosing the path of dictatorship following the election in the ex-Soviet country.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili told DW on Monday that the country’s election had been fraudulent and had been effectively stolen, calling on Georgians to take to the streets to reject the results.
The nation’s Central Electoral Commission said on Sunday that ruling party Georgian Dream won Saturday’s parliamentary election with more than 54% of the vote, a result that would represent a setback to pro-EU forces in the post-Soviet country.
The Georgian Dream party is seen as tending more toward Russia than the West, although they also claim to be interested in joining the EU.
Pro-Western opposition parties have rejected the preliminary result and announced protests.
Zourabichvili: ‘Georgian people on the streets will confirm’ election was stolen
President Salome Zourabichvili told DW that she rejected the official results, based on multiple reports of fraud.
“So this is an election that has been stolen and I think that the Georgian people on the streets will confirm this judgment.”
Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have said there was evidence of “democratic backsliding” in Georgia.
Zourabichvili opposes coalition with Georgian Dream
The Georgian president ruled out the possibility of pro-European forces working with Georgian Dream.
“I think, first of all, there is no intention of the Georgian Dream to form a coalition with anyone,” Zourabichvili said.
“They have a majority, they had hoped for the constitutional majority, and I think that explains the extent of the violations that they were aiming at having 60% in order to carry on their program, which is to first impeach the president, then put the opposition forces in jail and judge some of the opposition parties,” she added.
