Opposition Calls for Rally

Nine-party opposition coalition presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze said attempts were underway to rig the election and called on supporters to rally on January 6.

“Tomorrow at 2pm I call on everyone to rally at Rike [an open area in downtown Tbilisi] to celebrate our victory. We are losing Georgia and we should not let it happen. We have won,” Gachechiladze said on a live talk show at the local Tbilisi-based Kavkasia TV station after midnight on January 6. He also said that exit polls, commissioned by the four television stations, were falsified.

Giorgi Maisashvili, a presidential candidate, who said earlier that Gachechiladze had won the election, said he would also join the rally. Speaking on the same TV talk show, he said: “I have promised my voters that I would fight till the end to protect their votes; now we have to do that. The Saakashvili regime is illegitimate and I will fight to protect our rights.”