Opposition Rallies

Nino Burjanadze, Zurab Zhvania (right)  rally in the center of Tbilisi.

The Interior Ministry deployed riot police units in the center of Tbilisi, as thousands of supporters of the Burjanadze-Democrats and the National Movement launched protest rallies this evening to protest the ballot fraud.  

“I call on you to stage a peaceful demonstration in front of the Central Election Commission, then in front of the Parliament, which the pro-residential bloc wants to occupy and then let’s join our partners – the National Movement, whose supporters are gathered in front of the Tbilisi Municipality,” Zurab Zhvania, the leader of the Burjanadze Democrats, said today while appealing his supporters in the Philharmonic Hall this evening.

The protest rally was launched in the wake of meeting of the opposition leaders earlier today. Nino Burjanadze, Mikheil Saakashvili, leader of the National Movement and Jumber Patiashvili, leader of the Unity opposition alliance agreed today to cooperate in order to prevent the authorities from manipulating election results. The New Rights opposition party refused to join the initiative and stage the protest rallies.

The opposition parties set an ultimatum today and demanded the authorities to avoid manipulation of November 2 parliamentary results. The opposition also demanded from the Central Election Commission to announce “fair results of elections,” otherwise threatened to launch protest rallies.

The leaders of National Movement, led by Mikheil Saakashvili, the Burjanadze-Democrats, led by Parliamentary Chairperson and the Unity, led by former Jumber Patiashvili held meeting on November 4 to discus joint measures against as they say “government’s intention to manipulate election results.”

“We declare today, that we will create a unified front and protect the votes of our citizens. We should apply to legal, democratic methods and even start protest rallies to defend people’s interests,” Mikheil Saakashvili said after the meeting.

“Today we are witnessing how the authorities are cheating the population from the very beginning of the election day, when the population failed to find their names in voter lists and consequently, when the authorities completely manipulated the election results. We should not admit it. We must cooperate to protect our votes. We know, that the opposition has won the elections,” said Nino Burjanadze.

“We are not going to strike a deal with the authorities. They try to blackmail us. We know that we have cleared the 7% barrier. We have supporters in all the regions, who are ready to stand with us,” Burjanadze.

“We warn the authorities to finish ballot fraud and manipulation of election results. I call on them not to cheat the people, as if the authorities have won the elections. We are ready for the action,” Zurab Zhvania another leader of the Burjanadze-Democrats alliance said.

“I am ready to join those forces, which will prevent ballot fraud,” leader of the Unity election alliance Jumber Patiashvili said. 

Zurab Zhvania called on his supporters to gather at the Philharmonic Hall in the center of Tbilisi, while the National Movement urged its supporters to meet at the Tbilisi Municipality today in the evening.

The mass irregularities triggered opposition’s accusations that the authorities rigged the ballots and manipulated election results. According to the official results, with about 50% of the votes counted, the pro-presidential election alliance For New Georgia leads the polls with 25,8%, followed by opposition National Movement with 23,2%.

While according to the parallel vote tabulation results, conducted by the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy National Movement is a frontrunner with 26,6%, with the For New Georgia bloc in the second place – 18,9%.

The representatives of the civil society also attended the meeting of the opposition leaders today, however the New Rights, as well the Labor opposition parties refused to join the National Movement, the Burjanadze-Democrats and the Unity.

“We will not join them yet. We intend to protect our votes in the district election commissions and not in the streets,” Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of New Rights said at a news briefing today.