Opposition to hold rallies in Tbilisi, without political speeches, during Pompeo’s visit
US State Secretary Mike Pompeo will visit Georgia next week. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Georgian opposition parties plan to hold rallies on central Tbilisi streets without speeches by opposition leaders during the visit of the US State Secretary Mike Pompeo on November 17-18.
A leader of the European Georgia opposition party Gigi Ugulava stated earlier today that opposition activists will hold posters with inscriptions claiming that the October 31 ‘parliamentary elections were fabricated.’
People will make chains on central avenues during the visit in line with coronavirus recommendations and will hold the posters,” Ugulava said.
Pompeo is scheduled to meet with Georgian PM, president, foreign minister and the Catholics Patriarch Ilia II during his visit.
Georgian opposition parties, who say that the parliamentary elections were fabricated, took to the streets following the release of the results which pointed to a ruling party victory.
The first meeting between the ruling party and the opposition after the elections took place yesterday with the mediation of foreign diplomats to address the current political crisis in the country.
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Opposition parties are demanding repeat elections. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Representatives of the opposition said that one meeting ‘is not enough to solve such problems.’
The meetings will continue.
The opposition is demanding repeat elections, the dismissal of the head of Georgia’s Central Election Commission Tamar Zhvania and the recomposition of the commission.
The ruling party says that the elections were held in line with democratic standards and calls on the opposition to accept the election results.
Despite ongoing negotiations with the involvement of foreign ambassadors, the opposition parties say that they will not stop rallies in Tbilisi.
They say that a ‘large rally’ will take place in Tbilisi tomorrow, despite the country having recorded 3,473 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours.
Georgia has reported 3,473 new cases of coronavirus, 2,342 recoveries and 37 deaths in the past 24 hours. 16,981 individuals remain infected with Covid-19 in Georgia as of today. Georgia has had 73,154 cases of coronavirus since February 26, 2020.Since then 55,511 individuals have recovered, while 636 others have died. 4,957 patients are undergoing treatment in hospitals as of today. 633 of the 4,957 patients are in critical condition. 357 of the 633 critical patients are on artificial ventilation.
Members of all nine political parties which entered parliament following the October 31 parliamentary elections have held a first meeting with the mediation of the diplomatic corps earlier today to address the current political crisis in the country. The meeting has been held at the US Embassy in Tbilisi and was attended by US, EU and French ambassadors.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili welcomes the upcoming visit of the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo next week. Zurabishvili wrote on Twitter that the support from the US as ‘a strategic partner’ is important for the ‘democratic development and for peace and stability in the region’.
The leader of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party Grigol Vashadze has called on other opposition parties to sit at a table with the ruling Georgian Dream party to resolve election-related complications.
One of the leaders of the United National Movement opposition party Zaal Udumashvili says that the opposition's election-related rally in Tbilisi tomorrow ‘will be large scale and it will remind Ivanishvili (head of the ruling Georgian Dream party) that the opposition will not accept election results.’
The head of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party Grigol Vashadze has stated that he has left the party and said that the presence of ‘odious figures’ in the party and attacks on the diplomatic corps and ‘other controversies’ pushed him to resign. Vashadze said in his Facebook post released earlier today that he has done his best as the head of the party since January 2017 to make the party stronger.