Vice parliament speaker claims GD member threatened by Lelo supporter, latter denies allegations

Vice Parliement Speaker of Georgia Giorgi Kakhiani said that Rashad Musaev, supporter of the opposition Lelo for Georgia party, has threatened to kill ruling Georgian Dream party majoritarian candidate Savalan Mirzoev.

Kakhiani said at a briefing yesterday that representatives of various opposition parties seem to ‘feel so desperate due to their expected loss’ in the upcoming parliamentary elections that they try to ‘stage provocations and move the election process in a violent regime’.

We again call on the entire society, our party members and supporters to refrain from responding to provocations, inform law enforcers timely of any violation and ensure holding of elections in a peaceful and democratic environment”, Kakhiani said.

Badri Japaridze, one of the Lelo for Georgia party leaders condemned any form of violence urging the ruling party to protect the presumption of innocence until the investigation is over.

Japaridze said he is not sure whether Musaev is his party supporter or not, because Lelo for Georgia 'has some 130,000 supporters'. However, he added that despite a number of attacks on their party supporters, none of the incidents have been investigated.