Thousands rally in Tbilisi against election fraud claims
In Tbilisi, Georgia, a large protest is taking place against the alleged falsification of the parliamentary election results.
According to local media, protesters have blocked Rustaveli Boulevard, where thousands have gathered, including President Salome Zurabishvili. The protest was organised after the Electoral Commission announced that the governing party won the elections with 54 percent of the votes. The four opposition parties that secured seats in parliament have announced their intention to renounce their mandates in response to the election results.
Currently, several thousand people have already assembled in the city centre, waving flags of Georgia and the European Union. President Salome Zurabishvili attended the rally, where the crowd chanted her name, as reported by the BBC.
The opposition announced the protests on Monday evening after refusing to acknowledge the results of the parliamentary elections.
Preliminary data from the Central Electoral Commission indicates that "Georgian Dream" received approximately 54% of the votes; as of the time of publication, 99.9% of ballots had been processed. The opposition contends that these figures are indicative of electoral fraud.
According to the electoral commission, the voter turnout for the Saturday election was 58.94%. The elections in Georgia were marred by several incidents. Violence broke out in multiple polling stations on Saturday as voters cast their ballots in this crucial parliamentary election. In the city of Marneuli, one polling station was closed after a video surfaced online showing a representative of the governing party stuffing a ballot box with dozens of ballots.
On Sunday, President Salome Zurabishvili called on the public to take to the streets to protest against the parliamentary election results.
The first 20 candidates on the pro-European opposition bloc "Coalition for Change" list resigned on Sunday from their parliamentary mandates to protest the results of Saturday's elections, in which the governing party "Georgian Dream" emerged victorious and was accused by the opposition of being close to the Kremlin.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
