Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that his cabinet is ready to cooperate with the opposition in a constructive manner, and if the opposition wants to hold debates, they should be held in the state legislature and not elsewhere.
Georgian opposition parties took to the streets after recent municipal elections, demanding the annulment of election results and the release of former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, from prison.
Garibashvili stated earlier today that it was a ‘historic victory,’ and that the opposition should acknowledge its loss and act based on national interests.
We understand that it was a hard loss for the opposition. However, when you (opposition) have been defeated eight times in elections (since 2012) and people still refuse to vote for you, it should be a good lesson,” Garibashvili said.
Garibashvili has thanked the public for support and the country’s Central Election Commission for well-organized elections.
Elections 2021 was held with high standards and in #Covid19 safe environment. The E-Day was #transparent and all the procedures were accessible for each stakeholder. We present detailed data upon #elections2021, second round.
— CEC of Georgia (@cecgovge) November 3, 2021
➡️Please, find details here: https://t.co/rS2Jau23xa pic.twitter.com/o8qC7kvkiN
The elections are over and now we must be focused only on the job of resolving the problems which trouble our people,” Garibashvili said.
He congratulated Tsalenkhija opposition mayor, the only opposition candidate who won the recent race, on victory and said the central government will cooperate with him ‘in exactly the same manner as with other mayors.’
Garibashvili stated that Georgia is likely to have double-digit economic growth this year, noting that the nominal GDP in 2022 will stand at 65 billion GEL, ‘which means that the GDP per capita will exceed 5,500 USD.’
He further stated that economic growth of the past nine months was 11.3%.
Garibashvili said the government has already submitted a corrected draft budget in parliament. However, he added that communication with state agencies is still in progress and the final version of the draft will be available by the end of the month.