PM Garibashvili: destructive opposition defeated eight times

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that the ‘destructive’ United National Movement (UNM) opposition party has been defeated by the Georgian Dream (GD) eight times in elections since 2012. 

He said that the opposition was unable to receive enough votes to spark tension, while the GD garnered 46 percent of the vote in the proportional part of the October 2 municipal elections. 

The opposition claimed that the GD would have to accept early parliamentary elections if it received less than 43 percent of votes in the municipal race, per the EU-Georgia agreement signed in April 2021 which the ruling party left in July. 

Garibashvili said that the GD’s victory ‘is convincing,’ adding that runoffs in the majoritarian part of the elections for mayors will be held on October 30 in only 20 of 64 municipalities ‘which we will definitely win.’ 

He said that during the previous municipal elections in 2017 the runoffs were scheduled in 56 percent of election constituencies, while the figure now stands at 31 percent. 

Garibashvili stated that the OSCE/ODIHR preliminary findings on the elections have confirmed the polls were held in a free and competitive environment.