Page 8 - GEORptDec20

Georgian opposition parties sign formal agreement to boycott parliament
UNM and its smaller allies have moved up from 27 to 35 seats in the election, the first round of which took place on October 31. European Georgia (spun off from UNM in 2017 but sharing the same orientation) holds five seats. Lelo party, led by Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, co-founders of Georgia’s TBC Bank Group, has four seats.
Georgian Dream looks set to stick with Giorgi Gakharia as prime minister.
To end the political impasse, the ruling and opposition parties held two rounds of talks earlier in November, facilitated by the US and EU ambassadors to Tbilisi. The parties are expected to meet for a third round of negotiations.
The Georgian opposition political parties that, besides the ruling Georgian Dream party, obtained seats in parliament from their performance in the October 31 general election have signed a joint formal statement stating that they will not enter the new legislature because the vote was rigged.
The opposition parties claim that the parliamentary election was held under conditions that saw violence and the intimidation of voters, coordinated pressure from the State Security Service and the criminal world, large-scale bribery the use of administrative resources and violent pressure brought to bear on the will of the voters.
This was accompanied by the manipulation of election protocols and a so-called carousel—a vote-rigging device—which significantly distorted the election results, the parties claim. They further affirmed that the final results published by the electoral committee did not reflect the will of the Georgian people.
The statement was signed by the United National Movement (UNM); European Georgia; Lelo; Strategy Builder; Alliance of Patriots; Citizens; Labor Party, Republican Party; Law and Justice; European Democrats; United Georgia; Tribune; Victorious Georgia; For Justice; Free Democrats; Freedom; Free Georgia and the Christian Democratic Movement.
2.3​ ​American NGO finds “credible reports of irregularities” in Georgian general election
US-based NGO International Republican Institute (IRI) on November 16 released its interim report on Georgia’s October 31 parliamentary election, stating that “the spirit of the reforms, aimed at encouraging multiparty democracy and coalition rule, were affected by credible reports of irregularities in the campaign period and on election day”.
In the first round of the general election, ruling party Georgian Dream won just short of the 150 seats in the legislature. All the opposition parties that also won seats responded by demanding a rerun of the election, claiming fraud.
IRI said the most concerning “credible reports” referred to the “misuse of state administrative resources, vote-buying, intimidation of voters and observer groups and manipulation of precinct-level summary protocols”.
It said it analysed a sample of summary protocols from the Central Election Commission (CEC) website and found “anomalies,” including instances of
8​ GEORGIA Country Report ​December 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com