Georgia. The president of the country on how the elections were rigged. Gives examples

– Georgians went to the polls on Saturday in an electoral environment shaped by the ruling party's policies, including misuse of public funds, vote buying and voter intimidation. This contributed to an unlevel playing field and undermined public and international confidence in the fairness of the outcome, a State Department spokesman said. USA Matthew Miller during Monday's press briefing.

“We join international and local observers' calls for a full investigation into all reports of election-related violations and call for respect for fundamental freedoms: speech and peaceful assembly,” he added.

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Miller suggested that Georgian authorities should “consider” what kind of relationship they want with the West “instead of strengthening policies that are praised by authoritarian leaders.”

When asked whether the US would not recognize the election results in Georgia considered fair, the spokesman said that there was no full assessment on this matter yet, but he wanted a “full investigation” into the alleged irregularities of the government in Tbilisi.

As he points out, meanwhile OSCEobservers of the organization noted examples of vote buying. It was emphasized that the political climate in the country was conducive to intimidation and voter tracking.

The opposition did not recognize the official results of the vote, and Georgian observers accused the ruling party of abuses.

According to the results presented by the Georgian Central Electoral Commission, the Georgian Dream party, which has been in power since 2012, won about 54 percent in Saturday's elections. votes.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili told AFP that electronic voting was used to commit fraud in the parliamentary elections.

Zurabishvili said in an interview published on Monday that identical ID card numbers sometimes corresponded to a dozen or 20 votes cast in different regions of Georgia.

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According to the Georgian president, “classic” methods were also used, such as “buying votes, pressure on public sector employees” as well as on the families of prisoners who could be promised release. Zurabishvili also said that “money was openly distributed in minibuses at the exit from the voting stations.”

Moreover, in her opinion, ethnic minorities, which are “easy to control”, were used in the vote falsification system. In this context, Zurabishvili reported results of up to 97%. for the ruling party, which fell “in certain” towns and villages inhabited by minorities. – I think we haven't seen this since Stalinist times – she added.

She assessed that it was a “sophisticated” system of forgeries, according to “Russian methodology.” She also stated that public relations specialists came from Russia.