Gamkrelidze Calls for Run-Off, ‘Surprised’ by International Response

Davit Gamkrelidze, a presidential candidate and leader of the New Rights Party, said the Central Election Commission (CEC) was manipulating election results to secure an outright victory for incumbent candidate Mikheil Saakashvili, and so preclude the need for a run-off.

Echoing allegations made by the nine-party opposition coalition, Gamkrelidze also claimed that election results were being manipulated through the falsification of original vote summary protocols. Gamkrelidze met with Dieter Boden, head of the OSCE/ODIHR long term observation mission, to discuss his concerns.

Gamkrelidze said he was “surprised” by the positive assessments made by international observers and by a statement released by the U.S. State Department. He accused them of “an ostrich-like approach.”

“It is alarming when the U.S. State Department says that these elections were held in accordance with international standards,” he said. “This position of the United States was a surprise for me, as was the position of many other international organizations, which effectively amounted to the position expected of an ostridge [with its proverbial head in the sand].”
 
Gamkrelidze has won up to 4% of the vote, according to preliminary official results. On January 6 he conceded defeat and said that Levan Gachechiladze and Mikheil Saakashvili should run in the second round.