Georgian president urges West to back election protests
Georgia's president, Salome Zurabishvili, appealed to the West for support in opposition protests against the official results of Saturday's parliamentary elections.
During a press conference on Sunday, the President of Georgia stated that Georgian voters fell victim to a "Russian special operation" and that the elections were a new form of hybrid warfare aimed at the Georgian nation.
According to data from the Central Election Commission, the ruling party Georgian Dream, in power since 2012, won the elections and is accused of deviating from democratic standards. The President and the opposition do not recognize the official results, and observers have pointed out abuses during voting.
"It was a total falsification and confiscation of your votes. All methods, which we have seen in various countries, were used," said Zurabishvili, quoted by the Polish Press Agency. "Modern technologies were also used to 'whitewash the forgery.' We have never seen anything like this. We were witnesses and victims of a Russian special operation, hybrid warfare," she added.
The President accused the ruling Georgian Dream of "acting hand in hand with Russia" and potentially receiving assistance from Russian security services. "We saw that Russian propaganda was directly used," she emphasized in an interview with the AP agency.
Zurabishvili emphasized that she expects strong support from the United States and the European Union for the opposition protests against the election results. "We must have strong support from European partners, from American partners," she said.
On Monday at 11:00 AM Eastern Time, a demonstration convened by the president is set to begin in the centre of Tbilisi, aimed at expressing opposition to the official parliamentary election results.
