**Georgian President Calls for New Elections**
The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, has asked for new elections. She met with representatives from civil society and opposition parties to discuss this.
President Zourabichvili said that the current situation is not good and that the country needs new elections. She also said that she is ready to meet with Bidzina Ivanishvili, a key figure in Georgian politics, to talk about calling new elections.
The President was speaking after meeting with civil society representatives and opposition parties. She said that this meeting was to discuss where things are at now, particularly since the OSCE/ODIHR (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe/Observers of the Democratic Institutions and Election Law) has finished its conclusions on the recent elections.
President Zourabichvili stressed that Georgia’s international partners also want the document so they can make their political decisions. She said that the OSCE/ODIHR report shows how the elections were rigged, and this is a big issue. The President noted that while the OSCE/ODIHR doesn’t give political assessments, its conclusions are enough to say that these violations had a negative impact on the results of the election and people’s trust.
The President said that this means there should be new elections and no other way out of the crisis in Georgia. She added that she is setting an aggressive strategy for this.
President Zourabichvili also warned that time is running out, especially since Georgian Dream (a political party) is trying to adopt laws quickly to make Georgia like a Russian regime. The President said that they won’t let this happen and will use all kinds of pressure from inside and outside the country to force Ivanishvili to call new elections.
She also said she is ready to meet with Ivanishvili whenever he wants, and many people are willing to come and put pressure on him to call for new elections. The President stressed that “new elections must be called immediately!”
The President will join protesters in front of Parliament the next day at 9 pm to address them. She said they will all say together that nothing will work without new elections, which is what the whole country wants.
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