The U.S. State Department announced Monday that the United States has joined election observers' calls for a full investigation into all reports of violations related to Georgia's elections.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that Washington did not have a final assessment of the election results but did not rule out further consequences if Georgia's government did not change direction. .
Georgia: Congressional elections. The world demands a thorough investigation
The US State Department is among the voices from abroad expressing serious concerns about Georgia's election results. Earlier, Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned, among other things: In his opinion, “vote buying and voter intimidation” led to “unequal opportunities” for parties vying for power.
Condemnations have also been voiced from Europe. From France, Germany, Netherlands and Poland. The foreign ministers of the 13 European Union countries on Monday criticized “violations of international norms” during the disputed Georgia parliamentary elections, saying they were “contrary to the standards expected of candidates” in the EU.
See also: KO strengthens lead. There's a new study
This common position was also negatively evaluated by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who visited Tbilisi today to support the pro-Russian government.
– EU foreign ministers said in a statement that international observers reported violations during the election period and on voting day.
At the same time, it called for fair consideration of complaints and removal of identified violations. They also warned that it was important that both the protests and the government's response be peaceful.
Georgians took to the streets. Tbilisi crowd
On Monday, tens of thousands of Georgians took to the streets to support opposition parties that accused the ruling party of “stealing” the election. Earlier, the country's President Salome Zurabishvili called on Western countries to support demonstrations against the ruling Georgian Dream party and announced that she would not recognize the vote result.
Demonstrators gathered in Georgia's largest cities, including the capital Tbilisi, carrying state and EU flags and waving the flags and singing the national anthem just below the windows of Georgia's parliament.
– Your vote was stolen, but we won't let anyone steal our future. “I promise to be with you until we reach the end of the road to a Europe that belongs to us,” Zurabishvili told the crowd.
See also: A New Chance for Peace. Zelenskiy reveals potential location for talks
Meanwhile, one opposition leader vowed that the opposition would not create a new “illegal” parliament and expressed a common demand for new elections to be held with the participation of “international electoral bodies.”
Observers have pointed to irregularities in Georgia. the election was not fair
Georgia-based election observers announced at a meeting Monday that they had found evidence of massive fraud aimed at favoring Georgia Dream.
It then demanded a swift investigation and a revocation of at least 15%. every vote cast, citing documented evidence of election fraud at dozens of polling places.
Polish law and justice lawmaker Radosław Fogiel also visited Georgia as an election observer and spoke about his mission with Bogdan Limanowski on Monday's “Guest of Events”.
– We just finished a large demonstration called by both the rebels and the president of Georgia. It's interesting in itself that the country's president is calling for demonstrations aimed at effectively overturning the announced election results, but it's hard to believe that it was intended to overturn the election results as Georgians intended. He pointed out that this is because he doesn't think so. Outside.
See also: A turnaround in the Ukraine war? Putin 'will have to change strategy'
He added that what he saw meant he could not conclude that the election met any criteria. He himself witnessed people being alerted to the presence of observers at polling places, repeatedly trying to vote, or being told how to vote by members of the electoral commission.
– Some may suspect that there are traces of Russia in this. And indeed, when asked about the clues leading to Moscow, Russia emphasized the fact that Georgia would benefit if it moved away from the West and its integration with the West was postponed.
The lawmaker also said it remains to be seen what will happen in Georgia in the coming days, but acknowledged that the opposition would not rule out the possibility that the demonstrations would become less peaceful if the protests expanded.
Your browser does not support video players… Read more
Source link