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BFF-24
GEORGIA-US-EU-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-OPPOSITION-PROTEST
United States, EU back Georgia protesters
TBILISI, Nov 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States and European Union
expressed solidarity Monday with Georgia’s anti-government protesters who
took to the streets after the ruling party backtracked on promises of
electoral reforms.
In the biggest anti-government protest in years, more than 20,000
demonstrators rallied on Sunday outside the parliament building in the
capital Tbilisi urging the government to resign and calling for new
legislative elections.
In a joint statement, the US and EU embassies said they “recognise the
deep disappointment of a wide segment of Georgian society at the failure of
parliament to pass the constitutional amendments required to move to fully
proportional parliamentary elections in 2020.”
“We fully support the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of
expression,” the missions said.
The rally dispersed peacefully on Sunday night but entrances to the
parliament building remain blocked by dozens of protesters who say no
lawmakers will be allowed to pass through.
At an earlier protest on Thursday, some 10,000 people rallied in Tbilisi,
vowing to press ahead with “permanent” protests until their demands for snap
polls are met.
Opposition parties called for the rallies after forming a rare united
front against the ruling Georgian Dream party, whose MPs last week voted down
legislation to hold parliamentary elections next year under a new
proportional voting system.
The opposition accused powerful oligarch and Georgian Dream leader Bidzina
Ivanishvili — who is widely believed to be the man in charge in Georgia —
of being behind the move.
The US and EU embassies said the failure to pass the legislation “has
increased mistrust and heightened tensions between the ruling party and other
political parties and civil society.”
Protesters say the ruling party unfairly benefits from the current voting
system.
The Georgian Dream won nearly 77 percent of seats in the 2016
parliamentary election despite garnering only 48.7 percent of the vote.
Opposition parties at the time denounced the polls as rigged.
In power since 2012, the ruling party has seen its popularity plummet amid
widespread discontent over economic stagnation and perceived backsliding on
its commitment to democracy.
Critics have accused Ivanishvili of persecuting political opponents,
suffocating critical media, and creating a corrupt political system where his
private interests dominate government decision-making.
BSS/AFP/RY/1533 hrs