The ruling party won the second round of municipal elections in Georgia, according to official results announced Sunday and rejected as fraudulent by the opposition whose leader, imprisoned, is on a hunger strike.
Read also Elections in Georgia: ex-President Saakashvili still on hunger strike
Mikheil Saakashvili, pro-Western president of this Caucasian country from 2004 to 2013 and now considered the leader of the opposition, was jailed in early October on his return from exile just before the first round of elections.
He immediately began a hunger strike to protest against this detention, according to him purely political, and has continued since.
The second round of elections took place on Saturday in some municipalities of this former Soviet republic, especially in large cities.
The Georgian Dream Party narrowly won the elections in 19 out of 20 municipalities where its candidates faced those of Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM), the Central Election Commission announced on Sunday.
“
I congratulate everyone on our victory in the second round, we have won all the cities,
” Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on television. For his part, the leader of the MNU, Nika Melia, assured that the opposition would not recognize these results, accusing the Georgian Dream of having "
stolen the elections
".
“
There are no more elections in this country.
Compatriots, you who share the values of European democracy, prepare for an uncompromising struggle
, ”he said.
According to him, this "
difficult
"
struggle
will continue "
until there is a possibility of organizing free and fair elections in this country
".
The authorities had declared victory after the first round on October 2, while the opposition spoke of fraud - accusations relayed in particular by the OSCE, whose observers reported "
intimidation, vote buying and pressure on candidates and voters
”.
Read also Georgia: tens of thousands of demonstrators in support of the ruling party
The imprisonment of Mikheil Saakashvili has further aggravated the political crisis in this country which began with the legislative elections of last year, won very closely by the Georgian Dream and considered fraudulent by the opposition.