Alasania and Burjanadze evaluate elections

On June 2 leader of the Alliance for Georgia and its constituent Democratic Movement-United Georgia Irakli Alasania evaluated the local elections and underlined that a multitude of violations had been committed by the Government.

“Two days have passed since the elections and analyses of them have revealed that a lot of falsifications took place which must be eliminated by the time the next ones are held. The main violation carried out by the Government was pressurising voters. This is not only illegal but immoral as well, as you are taking advantage of people's extremely bad social situation. The greater part of the votes gained by the National Movement was gained in this way. As for other violations, there were too many cases of massive misuse of administrative resources, ballot box manipulations by election precincts, hindering the proper activity of observers and violations of voter confidentiality,” Alasania said. He underlined that the Alliance for Georgia has already taken all means, even at international level, to stop its voters being subject to any kind of pressure. "I want to tell all our activists and voters that we have taken all necessary measures to protect them from being pressurised and from violations of their rights. If these things happen, we will fight them without hesitation. We have material proof of violations and have already brought nearly 200 court cases concerning these. I know that a legal fight against illegality is very difficult, however legal means are the only acceptable ones for us,” Alasania stated.

Leader of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia Nino Burjanadze described the elections as another step towards authoritarianism and virtual democracy. "It was obvious from the beginning that these elections would be a farce, that is why our party refused to take part in them. I want to tell everybody that we should continue to fight. These elections showed that pre-term Parliamentary and Presidential elections are needed, but to get them called the unification of opposition forces is vital,” Burjanadze said.

At a Government sitting on June 2 President Saakashvili stated that new elections are not expected for at least two years. Ruling party MP Petre Tsiskarishvili said that the opposition were responsible for its own defeat as they had not persuaded the voters that they would be able to do more positive things for the country than the Government has done. "The opposition should convince the people that they can do better,” Tsiskarishvili stated.

Analyst Gia Khukhashvili told The Messenger, "The opposition should think about their long term strategies and plans. They need a precise long term action plan. The Government used all its resources to get its voters to the precincts and the opposition should try and do the same. As for the post-election statements by opposition parties, I think that the Alliance for Georgia’s reaction and future plans are the most acceptable,” Khukhashvili said.