08:59, 29 November 2018

Expert: stealing votes at presidential election in Georgia may provoke a revolution

Vitaly Shklyarov. Photo by Inna Kukudjanova for the "Caucasian Knot"

In Georgia, voting at the presidential election has a pronounced protest nature, and attempts of the ruling party to steal the victory of the opposition will turn into rallies of "unprecedented scale," believes political consultant Vitaly Shklyarov.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today, Georgia has held the voting in the second round of the presidential election. The first round of the election was held on October 28. Independent candidate Salome Zurabishvili, supported by the ruling "Georgian Dream" Party, and Grigol Vashadze, a candidate from the opposition "United National Movement" (UNM) Party, entered the second round.

Grigol Vashadze has a great chance of winning, but the ruling party is making maximum efforts to stay in power, the political consultant notes.

"The great tragedy of Georgia is in the fact that the ruling party is trying to keep in power by means of falsification and information wars," the political analyst has emphasized.

The result of the voting proved strengthening of democratic institutions in Georgia and the ability of the opposition to unite, and that indicates changes "in Georgian society," wrote Vitaly Shklyarov in a blog on the "Ekho Moskvy" Radio.

In response, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, Secretary General of the "Georgian Dream" Party, has announced that the authorities are ready to respond to any provocation from the UNM Party.

According to Vitaly Shklyarov, the election of 2018 is "an absolutely protest voting caused by dissatisfaction with the authorities."

"If the 'Georgian Dream' Party tries to steal the victory, people come to a rally of unprecedented scale," Vitaly Shklyarov believes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 28, 2018 at 06:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.