Some parties want to create stir ahead of elections
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, September 15
Georgia’ s Prime Minister confirmed the statement made by the Interior Minister a couple of days ago, and said there are some political parties in Georgia which are planning provocations ahead of the October 8 Parliamentary race.
PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said among the parties who was “interested” in electoral controversy was the previous ruling United National Movement (UNM) party.
The PM stated the UNM formed special organizations, such as Devoting Georgia, to stage provocations in the pre-election and election periods.
“This information was obtained through legal ways,” Kvirikashvili said.
“While speaking about possible facts of destabilization the Interior Minister was based on definite information. The Interior Minister has no obligation to reveal the details of their information,” Kvirikashvili stated.
“We ensure the forthcoming elections to be fair and transparent, but the Government will also use all legal measures to avoid any radical steps to destabilize the process,” the PM added.
The PM welcomed the special readiness of police for the elections and stressed it was important that there be a peaceful conduction of the race.
Kvirikashvili said the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) Party refused to hold their events when some other party was meeting with its voters nearby.
The PM said the solution was to avoid any tension and stressed the ruling party was ready to offer a memorandum to other political players so they also refused holding of contra-actions.
Kvirikashvili also said it was a positive decision that the police would stand nearby during the pre-election campaigning of any political party.
“It excludes the possibility that any kind of pressure will be put on someone; the only reason for this is to avoid any tension or complications,” Kvirikashvili stated.
The PM highlighted that the current Government was capable to protect Georgia’s democratic achievements, right of expression, human rights and “wouldn’t let anyone to push the country derail from the route.”
Responding to the allegations, member of the UNM Elene Khoshtaria said the only party which was interested in staging provocations was the ruling GDDG faction.
She reminded the Prime Minister of an incident in the Samegrelo region, in which opposition leaders were beaten by supporters of the ruling party.
