Saakashvili Warns Against Unrest
Pre and post-election unrest will not be tolerated, President Saakashvili said on April 14.
“I understand that all parties are trying to gain political scores [ahead of the elections]. God bless them if they [try to do so by] explaining to the people what they can do for them, what they can do to overcome poverty, what they can do to create new jobs,” Saakashvili said. “But if their political program is like: “we will launch a rebellion, we will launch unrest” – nobody will be able to launch unrest in Georgia, we will not let anyone do it. Even talking about [unrest] frightens foreign investors. Our resource is not oil and gas, which we do not have – our resource is peace and stability, a non-corrupt government and intelligent Georgians.”
The nine-party opposition bloc has warned that “a people’s rebellion” would be inevitable if the May 21 parliamentary elections were rigged.
Saakashvili was speaking to voters in Ozurgeti, a region of Guria in western Georgia. His address was aired live on Georgian TV.
“We should agree on one thing – our country belongs to everybody and our economic success will belong to everybody. Any attempts at creating unrest will mean losing the chance, which has emerged at last,” Saakashvili said.
