Georgian elections spark memories of Ukraine's Orange Revolution drama
Recent Georgian elections faced serious problems with voter-intimidation‚ leading to international concerns. Both the Georgian president and opposition groups dont accept official results‚ while Western nations consider their response
The recent Georgian vote brings back memories of Ukraineʼs pro-democracy push twenty years ago: when Viktor Yanukovych tried to take control thru unfair elections. Back then Colin Powell made it clear - US wouldnt accept fake results
International watch-dogs pointed out many problems with last saturdays parliamentary elections in Georgia: voters faced pressure and the whole process didnt meet basic standards. The ruling party (Georgian Dream) claims they won but Salome Zourabichvili the president said something different
I want to say‚ as the [representative of the] only independent institution‚ that I donʼt recognize these elections
The situation looks bad - Bidzina Ivanishvili (the party leader) and his team have been running things since 12ʼ; taking over courts parliament and other key spots. Last spring he made weird claims that opposition groups wanted to start war with Russia; and in aug he threatened to ban them completely
- They tried to kick out the president twice
- They pushed thru a foreign-agents law (just like Russia has)
- They shut down peaceful street protests
- They went after watch-dog groups
The West tried to help: EU stopped Georgiaʼs membership process and US froze 95-mil in aid but it wasnt enough. Now Irakli Kobakhidze the prime-minister says theyʼll make new government without opposition - who are planning big protests in Tbilisi starting oct-28
US and Europe need to step up now; maybe with harder sanctions against top officials. Georgian people want to join NATO and EU - they deserve better than this mess. Washington should follow what happened in Ukraine back then: dont accept fake results and support real democracy
