Labor Party to Join Protests
The opposition Labor Party, claiming that the official election results had been manipulated, said it would join opposition protests.
“The CEC [Central Election Commission] has until tomorrow evening to correct the protocols; otherwise, everybody, including the authorities, should understand that it is not an issued that can be decided by Matyas Eorsi [head of the Council of Europe’s observation mission], or by any other foreign organization or observers. The [election] results should be decided by the Georgian people,” Nestan Kirtadze of the Labor Party said at a press conference on January 8. “If the Georgian people start protest rallies, the Labor Party … will stand beside the Georgian people.”
Shalva Natelashvili, leader of the Labor Party, has won about 6% of the vote, according to preliminary official results.