Tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets this Sunday in Georgia to demand new parliamentary elections, accusing the authorities of having rigged previous narrowly won by the ruling party.
Read also: Georgia: the opposition protests en masse before the elections
Georgian riot police, who used water cannons against protesters, intervened when they threatened to blockade the Georgian Election Commission building.
Tbilisi's main thoroughfare turned into a sea of Georgian flags as protesters gathered outside parliament, many wearing protective masks amid the surge of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
According to official figures,
billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili's “
Georgian Dream
” won the October 31 elections with just over 48% of the vote, two points ahead of opposition parties that had agreed to form a government of coalition in case of victory.
They denounced fraud and refused to enter Parliament, raising fears of a new political crisis in this country where the elections often cause a stir and are regularly marked by large demonstrations.
"Power-hungry politicians"
The opposition approached these legislative elections with a lot of hope, the main opposition party - the United National Movement (MNU) of ex-president Mikheïl Saakashvili - having succeeded in rallying all the other opposition formations.
"
We demand the replacement of the totally discredited electoral administration and the holding of a new vote,
" UNM official Salomé Samadachvili told AFP on Sunday, adding that this "
would help maintain stability in the country
" and that the “
Georgian Dream has not received a democratic mandate to remain in power
”.
Prime Minister Guiorgui Gakharia for his part assured that these elections had marked "
another important milestone in the democratic development of Georgia
", criticizing the opposition for having organized mass rallies in the midst of the pandemic.
"
We are not going to allow some thirsty politicians to pursue their small political interests to destroy the country,
" he added in a statement before the demonstration.