Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili claims our election was ‘stolen’ and the Russians were behind it | World News

On October 29, 2024By Karl

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has nearly completed her six-year term, a largely ceremonial post, but the French-born politician has become much more than a figurehead in the past few years.

He led the opposition against a series of repressive laws introduced by the country’s ruling party. Georgian Dream, and perhaps more importantly, has managed to unite a fractious opposition in their attempt to topple the government in Saturday’s parliamentary elections.

However, these attempts failed in the wake of the Georgian Dream led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. Received 54 percent of the votes.

Ms Zourabichvili, as well as leaders of the main opposition parties, say the election was stolen.

During my interview at the elegant Orbeliani Palace in the capital Tbilisi, I reminded President Zourabichvili of the statement he made after casting his vote.

“You believed that the opposition would win. You said, ‘Tonight victory will be ours. Our dreams will come true.’ What happened?” I asked.

“I was right,” he said. “We won the elections.Europe forces won the elections. “The fact that these were stolen is a different story.”

The president said various methods were used to rig the vote, but argued that it was important to introduce new electronic voting machines.

“All kinds of fraud and new technologies were used. Electronic equipment, used for the first time in the elections in Georgia, was used to multiply votes. You could vote 15, 17, 20 times with one ID. It is documented in many ways.”

Allegations of ballot box stuffing

International election observers said they witnessed a number of fraudulent and unfair practices leading up to and on election day.

Ballot box stuffing, double voting, intimidation and other forms of pressure were reported, but election observers did not directly condemn the election.

I told President Zourabichvili that it was problematic for him that observers refrained from declaring the poll invalid.

“No, it’s okay because international observer missions never condemn the elections two days after the elections.

“The monitoring is done by local people rather than international observers traveling around the country, and it’s very difficult for them.”

Was the election ‘Russia’s special operation’?

Enraged by the result, prominent opposition figures called the election “Russian A special operation planned in Moscow and carried out by the leader of the Georgian Dream, Mr. Ivanishvili.

I asked the President if he accepted this claim.

“Yes, I think so. I don’t know if it was planned in Moscow, but its methodology, its complexity, its scope, the use of different methods in parallel in different parts of the country, all of this is a very good organization.

“This isn’t just like, ‘I tried to commit fraud here and there.’ It was very well planned in advance.”

“That’s a very strong accusation,” I protested. “Some will say the real problem here is that the opposition, including you, refuses to accept the election decision.”

He told me to look at the public protests fueled by the ruling party’s decision to pass a Russian-style ‘foreign agent’ law.

The bill, passed in May, restricts the ability of media and civil society groups that receive foreign funding to operate normally.

The President asked, “The will of the Georgian people was demonstrated in the streets last March, April, and hundreds of thousands of people disappeared?” he asked.

fear of violence

I asked him if he was trying to overthrow the government.

“I’m not there to displace anyone,” he said. “I made a decision regarding the elections… I am the only independent institution left in the country. It is the people who must approve it.”

Asked whether people would be harmed, Ms. Zourbichvili answered frankly.

“Well, people are going to get hurt,” he said.

So did he expect his tenure as president to end in uncertainty and instability?

“Absolutely not. I hope not.”