In an exclusive interview with Steve Rosenberg of the news, Irakli Kobakhidze of the Georgian Dream party stated, “Irregularities happen everywhere, in every country.”
Exit surveys for opposition TV networks indicated that four opposition parties had won, but official preliminary results from Georgia’s election commission awarded the ruling Georgian Dream an absolute majority of 54%.
Salome Zourabichvili, the pro-Western president of Georgia, has denounced the “total falsification” of the vote and urged supporters of the opposition to gather outside the parliament on Monday.
Election officials in this Russian-bordering South Caucasus state have expressed dissatisfaction about a “uneven playing field” during the election, implying that the extent of vote fraud may have impacted the outcome.
The European Union and the United States have supported the monitors’ demands for an impartial inquiry. “Respect the rule of law, repeal legislation that undermines fundamental freedoms, and address deficiencies in the electoral process together,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken encouraged Georgia’s leaders.
The prime minister, however, maintained that while there had been issues in “just a couple of precincts” out of 3,111 polling places, “the environment was completely peaceful” in every other one.
