Georgian opposition supporters attend a rally in central Tbilisi on November 8, 2020. Thousands of opposition supporters rallied on November 8 in Georgia, demanding snap vote after opposition parties accused a ruling party of rigging tightly-contested legislative elections, which it won narrowly the week before. Photograph:( AFP )
All of Georgia's opposition parties have refused to enter the new parliament sparking fears of another political crisis in the Black Sea nation where elections are often followed by accusations of fraud and mass demonstrations
After opposition accused the ruling party of rigging tightly contested parliamentary elections thousands of opposition supporters rallied on streets of Georgia, an ex-Soviet country. The protesters gathered outside parliament in Georgian capital Tbilisi. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire ex-PM who leads ruling Georgian Dream party has denied accusations of electoral fraud. The party has won the elections with a margin of two per cent.
All of Georgia's opposition parties have refused to enter the new parliament sparking fears of another political crisis in the Black Sea nation where elections are often followed by accusations of fraud and mass demonstrations.
In an unprecedented show of unity before the vote, the country's main opposition force, exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM), agreed with smaller opposition groups to form a coalition government if elected.
"We demand the replacement of the totally discredited electoral administration and the holding of a fresh vote," one of the UNM's leaders, Salome Samadashvili, told AFP.
"This would allow for maintaining stability in the country," she said, adding that "Georgian Dream has failed to receive a democratic mandate to remain in power."
Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia of Georgian Dream has said the elections marked "another important milestone in Georgia's democratic development" and criticised the opposition for staging mass rallies amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Gakharia, who has tested positive for the virus, has been in self-isolation for a week and announced a nighttime curfew starting Monday.
Georgia has seen a rapid daily increase in new virus cases after it lifted a lockdown in September aimed at containing the spread of the disease.
The electoral commission has yet to formalise early results that showed Georgian Dream had won 48 per cent of the proportional vote, against 46 per cent for opposition parties.
The proportional vote decides 120 of the 150 seats in the legislature.
With another 30 seats to be assigned in single-mandate constituencies requiring up to two rounds of voting, the final makeup of the new parliament may only become clear in late November.
(With AFP inputs)