Parliament Committee Chair criticises opposition for demands of “int’l mechanism to force ruling party to relinquish power”

Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the European Integration Committee of the Georgian Parliament, on Monday criticised “groups acting on behalf of the domestic opposition and their instigators” for “demanding invention of an international mechanism” that would  “force  the ruling Georgian Dream party to hand over power”.

In her social media post, Botchorishvili claimed the outcome would mean  that “neither the support of the people, nor the country’s election administration, [or evidence that is] proving the fairness of the elections will be needed”, in reference to opposition’s claims that they would not recognise the results of the “stolen” parliamentary elections held last month.

She claimed  instead the opposition had “promised the world a democracy where more than a million Georgian citizens who dared to vote for [the ruling party] will be labelled as ‘Russians’ and then punished to make an example out of them”.

She added the development would be presented as a “new beacon of democracy[ing] from the mountains of the Caucasus”, adding “if there is any common sense, these people need help”.