The official results give the candidates of the party to the power elected in the second round in 19 of the 20 cities where they were competing with the Uni National Movement (MNU), Party of the opponent imprisoned Mikheil Saakachvili.
Le Monde with AFP
The Georgian dream party, in power in Georgia, won the second round of municipal elections according to official results, announced on Sunday, October 31st. These were immediately qualified as fraudulent and rejected by the opposition.
The second round of elections took place on Saturday in some municipalities of this former Soviet Republic, particularly in large cities. Georgian dream has, of little, won these elections in 19 on 20 municipalities where his candidates faced those of the United Nationale Movement (MNU), Sunday announced the Central Electoral Commission. “I congratulate everyone for our victory in the second round, we won all cities,” said Prime Minister Irakli Garibachvili on television.
“There is no more elections in this country “
The MNU was created in 2001 by Mikheil Saakachvili, later pro-Western President of this Caucasus from 2004 to 2013. Party in exile even before the end of his second term, he returned to Georgia just before the First round of the elections of 2021. Immediately imprisoned, he immediately started a hunger strike, still in progress, to protest against his incarceration, according to him purely political. Since then, it is considered the opposition leader even if he does not occupy any position at the MNU or other courses.
The imprisonment of Mr. Saakashvili further aggravated the political crisis started with last year’s legislative, won very closely by the Georgian dream and considered fraudulent by the opposition. The schema was repeated this year: the power had shouted victory after the first round of the municipal, on October 2, while the opposition was already talking about fraud – charges relayed in particular by the organization for security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE), whose observers reported “bullying, [from] buying votes and [de] pressures on candidates and voters”.
The leader of the MNU, Nika Melia, assured Sunday that the opposition was not going to recognize these results, accusing the Georgian dream of having “stole the elections”. “There are no more elections in this country. Compatriots, you who share the values of European democracy, prepare for a non-compromised struggle,” he launched. According to him, this “difficult” struggle will continue “until there is an opportunity to organize free and honest elections in this country”.