GEORGIA: Thousands protest Saakashvili's ruling party win in May 21 parliamentary election

Record ID: 215756

  • Title: GEORGIA: Thousands protest Saakashvili's ruling party win in May 21 parliamentary election
  • Date: 26th May 2008
  • Summary: (BN09) TBILISI, GEORGIA (MAY 26, 2008) (REUTERS) OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS MARCHING TOWARDS PARLIAMENT HOLDING BANNER READING: GEORGIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT YOUNG MOVEMENT IN MASKS SHOUTING: "GEORGIA, GEORGIA" MASSES OF SUPPORTERS MARCHING TOWARDS PARLIAMENT POLICEMEN MOVING PEOPLE AWAY CROWD DISMANTLING BARRIERS GEORGIAN SPECIAL FORCE BLOCKING THE ROAD IN MASKS AND RIOT GEAR
  • Embargoed: 10th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5MJBU5CQHJR6E1GUS5HPFWPZH
  • Story Text: Georgian opposition takes to the streets in protest and plans to put forward an ultimatum to demand the cancellation of the results of the May 21 election and call new parliamentary elections.
    Tens of thousands of people massed in protest in Georgia's capital on Monday (May 26) against President Mikheil Saakashvili, who they said had stolen victory for his ruling party in last week's parliamentary election.
    Saakashvili, who presents his country as a rare beacon of democracy in the former Soviet Union, hopes to convince the West to defy Russian objections and offer Georgia membership of the NATO military alliance. He also aims to join the European Union.
    But the U.S.-educated lawyer's democratic credentials are under scrutiny after he used riot police to crush protests last November, and the opposition say he has rigged presidential and parliamentary elections.
    After an Independence Day military parade, supporters of the main opposition bloc marched through central Tbilisi and massed in front of the parliament building, scene of protests in 2003 that brought Saakashvili to power.

    "We are going to put forward an ultimatum at 1600 (1200 GMT) to cancel the results of this election and to call for new parliamentary election," David Gamkrelidze said, addressing the crowds gathered outside the Parliament building.
    A Reuters reporter at the scene estimated that up to 40,000 people attended the demonstration, although opposition leaders said more than 100,000 had gathered.

    "We want these elections to be cancelled and we want this parliament to be abolished," Salome Zurabishvili, a former foreign minister who fell out with Saakashvili and is now one of the opposition leaders, told the crowd.
    Official results show Saakashvili's United National Movement won more than two thirds of parliament's 150 seats, or a constitutional majority, cementing his hold on power.
    European monitors said the May 21 election had not lived up to Georgia's democratic potential and said it had verified cases of intimidation.
    But it said the vote had expressed the overall will of the people.
    The opposition, which has vowed to boycott parliament, said voters had been intimidated by local officials and police and that media coverage had been dominated by the ruling party.
    Georgia lies at the heart of the Caucasus, where the United States and Russia are jostling for influence over oil and gas transit routes from the Caspian Sea.
    Before the opposition marched down Tbilisi's main street on Monday, Saakashvili presided over Independence Day celebrations including a parade of soldiers, tanks and armoured vehicles.
    At the news conference organized after the parade, Saakashvili said a UN report confirmed a Russian air force jet was responsible for shooting down an unmanned Georgian spy plane on April 20.

    "Today Georgia is in a difficult situation. The foreign army is on its territory; the army which we have not invited and we do not accept its presence here categorically. Yesterday the United Nations has released a report, which directly blames the the Russian Federation for aggression against Georgia and it points the finger without any general words, towards the Russian Federation," Saakashvili said.
    Russia, which supports Georgia's two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, has stormy ties with Saakashvili, who says Moscow is upset by his drive to join NATO and the EU.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register