GEORGIA Mass protests in Tbilisi

The opposition continues to mobilize every night to denounce the vote manipulations that would have led to a new success of the pro-Russian Georgian Dream. Documents are being collected for an international investigation, while the outgoing government remains in a wait-and-see position, banking on divisions between the parties and not believing in its ability to really involve the population in the protest.

Tbilisi () – Since the night of November 4, opposition protests have been taking place in Tbilisi against the falsification of the parliamentary elections last October, which with 53.9% of the votes gave the party victory for the fourth time Georgian Dream of the pro-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanišvili, called by opponents “the puppet of the Kremlin.” At the rallies held on Rustaveli Prospekt, in front of the Parliament building, the leaders of the “Coalition for Change”, the media Nika Gvarami, and the businessman Mamuki Khazaradze, from “Strong Georgia”, intervened with messages from prison of former president Mijail Saakašvili, founder of the National Movement, according to one of the party leaders, Georgij Vašadze.

The protesters demand that the elections be declared null and void and that they be repeated, considering the new parliament illegitimate, and they promise to expand and intensify the popular opposition front, setting increasingly specific objectives. Meanwhile, more and more documentation will be collected for international investigation leading to the conviction of those guilty of falsifications, and complaints have already been filed for more than two thousand seats. As Nika Melia, another leader of the Coalition, said, “the protest will have no deadline and we will be in the streets every day until the fall of this regime.”

A group large enough to prevent entry to anyone will remain in front of the palace, but the rallies will not be limited to Rustaveli prospekt, where a mass of between 4,000 and 5,000 people initially gathered, blocking traffic throughout central Tbilisi. . The demonstrations also have the support of President Salome Zurabišvili, a leading figure in the rejection of the electoral results, who in turn accused the Georgian Dream of “stealing votes”, which provoked the reactions of Prime Minister Iraklij Kobakhidze and the President outgoing Parliament member, Šalva Papuašvili, who deny any irregularity in the vote counting.

On November 5, the demonstrations moved to the Court of Appeal in the capital, while a rally had been announced at the Sports Palace, following the decisions of the Tetritskaro and Gori regional courts to annul the vote in 30 polling stations, which will now be evaluated on appeal. In the words of the representative of the Nabidži student movement, Luka Čokhonelidze, “Ivanišvili tried to build an image of the country according to which those who had taken to the streets in March against foreign agents voted for them”, but now they want to demonstrate “the true will of Georgians without tricks”, such as call centers and votes for other people, with which at least 400,000 votes were allegedly stolen from the opposition, “especially by falsifying those of citizens abroad.”

Zurabišvili noted that 300,000 emigrants voted in Moldova, guaranteeing the victory of Maia Sandu, while “this possibility was only granted to 34,000 Georgian citizens, in a serious violation of the Constitution.” Vašadze assures that “more and more organized and planned initiatives will be taken, which will lead us to final victory”, finally uniting all opposition forces under the motto “it is not my protest, it is our protest, in which the everyone’s contribution.

One of the most influential representatives of the ruling majority is the mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, who addressed disdainful words to the opponents: «They have been destroyed and annihilated, what waves of protest can ever be organized by Gvarami or Khazaradze… it is not even known. They agree on social networks: those who want to go one way, those who plan to set up tents on the other, are laughable compared to the 1,120,000 people who voted for a better future. Kaladze also criticized the behavior of the President, who refused to go to the prosecutor’s office to testify about the “alleged falsifications.” The government and the members of the Georgian Dream maintain a wait-and-see position, not believing in the opposition’s ability to truly involve the population and not wanting to offer reasons that aggravate the conflict.