Tina Bokuchava of the “Unity National Movement” called for international involvement to investigate the integrity of Georgia‘s parliamentary elections, criticizing the Georgian Government for ignoring European allies’ concerns.
Bokuchava expressed concerns about alleged irregularities in the election and criticized Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament for refusing a meeting with a delegation of eight EU parliamentarians. She urged Georgia to allow European involvement in elections investigations, asserting this would maintain the democratic principle of freedom of choice.
“For the international supporters of Georgia, it’s clear that these elections didn’t reflect the freewill of the Georgians. The freewill was ignored through many different machinations including a massive violation of the constitutional principle on secrecy. I am confident that Ivanishvili’s party members will hear again from this high-level European Union delegation that these elections will not have international credibility, which is the basis for holding reelections. This is exactly what we are demanding together with other opposition groups.
It is impossible to conduct a independent investigation under the circumstances of the hijacking of state structures in Georgia. We will therefore be addressing the representatives of the European Union to propose that, as a candidate country, Georgia should allow international and specifically European actors to participate in investigative actions to determine the extent of fraud. Otherwise, the most important principle, free will, has been violated,” Tina Bokuchava stated.
Bokuchava said that Papuashvili refused to meet the EU delegation and suggested that representatives from Russia, Venezuela, Hamas, and Nicaragua visit Papuashvili to convince him to agree to a meeting.
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