The United States Embassy and the European Union delegation to Georgia have released a joint statement today calling on all Georgians who plan to exercise their right to assembly on November 8 ‘to do so peacefully and with respect to COVID-19 precautions’.
They also call on the Georgian authorities to assist in providing such an environment.
With regard to the ongoing electoral process, we encourage political parties to continue addressing allegations of electoral violations by using the legal means within the democratic processes that Georgia has built over the past 20 years”, the joint statement reads.
It also notes that ‘a credible and inclusive legal process for remedying substantiated electoral violations’ is necessary to ensure:
Statement by the United States Embassy and the Delegation of the European Union to Georgiahttps://t.co/Rn3Z1llNYe
— U.S. Embassy Tbilisi (@usingeo) November 7, 2020
The US and EU officials also underscore that they stand ready to contribute as required to achieving these objectives.
Georgia needs a parliament able to play its role to address the immediate challenges of economic turmoil, pandemic and regional tensions, as well as to enact additional reforms to improve the country’s democratic, legal and electoral processes for the future”, they said.
Therefore, they urge 'all political sides' to urgently take responsibility 'for ensuring such an outcome’.
Opposition plans to hold a rally in front of the parliament of Georgia on November 8 to protest the the results of October 31 parliamentary elections.
Accusing the Central Election Commission (CEC) of vote rigging, they demand the resignation of the CEC chair and holding of repeat elections.