The president of the European Council urged Georgia’s electoral authorities to “investigate” “irregularities” in the parliamentary elections won on Saturday by the pro-Russian ruling party.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, urged Georgia’s electoral authorities this Sunday to “investigate” the “irregularities” in the parliamentary elections won on Saturday by the pro-Russian party in power, a result questioned by the pro-European opposition.
“We call on the Central Electoral Commission and other competent authorities to fulfill their duty to promptly, transparently and independently investigate and comment on electoral irregularities and accusations,” wrote Charles Michel on the social network X, referring to a preliminary assessment. carried out by international electoral observers.
“These alleged irregularities must be clarified and seriously addressed,” he continued.
The leaders of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) will “assess the situation and determine the next steps” in relations with Georgia at their meeting in Budapest early next month, Charles Michel stressed.
The European Union had warned that Georgia’s chances of ever joining depend on elections to be held on Saturday in the former Soviet republic of around four million people.
The opposition believes that the foreseeable victory of the ruling Georgian Dream party will bring Georgia closer to Moscow and away from EU membership, an objective so important for a large part of the population that it is enshrined in the Constitution.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), NATO and the EU affirmed today that the country’s legislative elections were “marked by inequalities [entre candidatos]pressures and tensions.
In Tbilisi, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili today sided with the opposition, saying her country was the victim of a Russian “special operation.”
Zourabichvili called on Georgians to demonstrate on Monday at 7:00 p.m. (3:00 p.m. in Lisbon) on the main street of the capital to protest the result, which he considered a “total falsification, a total theft.”
The Central Electoral Commission declared this Sunday that Georgian Dream obtained 54.8% of the votes, when practically 100% of the ballots were counted.
Source: Observadora
