Opposition UNM wants seats in Parliament, will participate in election runoff
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Opposition party United National Movement (UNM) has decided not to boycott the second round of the October 8 Parliamentary Elections.
UNM will participate in the election runoff and will also take up the seats in Parliament the party won through proportional party lists.
UNM made this decision at a party meeting late last evening and announced the news today.
David Bakradze, number one on UNM's party list, said after the meeting UNM had decided to continue its fight.
In this situation where UNM is in fact the only pro-Western opposition force, we cannot let [ex-Prime Minister and Founder of ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina] Ivanishvili’s regime create a single-party system."
That’s why we decided that despite unequal conditions, falsifications and pressure […], we will continue to fight.”
Bakradze added UNM would use all tribunes including Parliament, as well as rallies and their contacts abroad to maintain oppositional opinion in Georgia.
Party member Sergi Kapanadze said this decision was agreed by an overwhelming majority of the party’s political council.
Earlier UNM criticised the legitimacy of the October 8 Parliamentary Election results and said UNM might boycott the second round of voting.
This came after Georgia’s ex-president and UNM leader Mikheil Saakashvili published a video address from Ukraine saying he thought UNM majoritarian candidates should not participate in a runoff.
Saakashvili said he did not believe a second round would change anything.
UNM gained 27.11 percent of votes in the proportional elections and a large number of the party’s candidates were due to participate in the second round of the majoritarian race.
Georgia’s Central Election Commission has counted all votes cast in Saturday's Parliamentary Election. As of 11am today three parties received enough votes to gain seats in Parliament.
People elected into Georgia’s Parliament have a responsibility to the Georgian public to act credibly and appropriately, believes Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili.
On Saturday, October 8, Georgian citizens voted to elect the 150-seat Parliament of Georgia, 77 members through party lists and 73 in the majoritarian districts.
Opposition party United National Movement (UNM) gained the second highest number of votes in Saturday’s Parliamentary Elections but might refuse to participate in a second round of voting.
A repeat vote of the Parliamentary Elections will take place in several districts in Georgia where votes were nullified due to incidences on Election Day.
One of the key figures of the opposition United National Movement, Mikheil Machavariani, told the local media he was taking "at least 4-year political timeout.”
Sandra Roelofs, Georgia's ex-First Lady and number two on the party list of the country's main opposition party United National Movement, has refused her mandate as a Member of Parliament (MP).
One of the leaders of UNM opposition party said UNM has already selected candidates for Parliament Vice Speaker, minority leader and the UNM faction chairperson.