De Georgische anti regimepartij heeft de verkiezingen overtuigend gewonnen, ondanks fraude door het regime. De winnaar, een miljardair die fortuin vergaarde in Rusland in de jaren 90, belooft de relaties met buurland Rusland te herstellen, die erg beschadigd werden onder Saakashvili, met als hoogtepunt de oorlog van 2008.
Een erg mooie dag voor vrede in de Caucasus, en een serieuze terugval voor de verdeel en heerspolitiek van de VS en NAVO.
GeorgiË was een van de weinige van de ex Sovjet republieken die weigerden mee te werken aan de herintegratie en nauwere samenwerking tussen de ex Sovjet republieken. ArmeniË, Kazachstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Oekraïne hebben erg goede en steeds nauwere politieke en economische banden met Moskou. De regimes in Azerbaidjan en Turkmenistan staan nog wat aan de kant maar hebben, anders dan GeorgiË tot nu toe, ook goede relaties met Rusland. De verdeel en heers politiek van het Westen is definitief mislukt.
Saakashvili slaagde er in de extreme corruptie en chaos van het vorige, eveneens pro westerse regime van Shevarnadze te beëindigen, maar hij slaagde er niet in een einde te maken aan de armoede van de meerderheid van de bevolking, noch om een oplossing te bieden voor het probleem van de separatistische republieken Zuid OssetiË en Abchazie. Zijn regime, dat pretendeerde westerse waarden uit te dragen, en officieel van GeorgiË een Westers land te maken, bleek ook niet ongevoelig voor corruptie en de vorige elite werd vervangen door een nieuwe elite, die in brutaliteit en corruptie niet moet onderdoen voor het vorige regime, maar met een westers sausje erover.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has conceded a shock defeat to a billionaire tycoon in parliamentary polls, ending nine years of dominance that antagonised Russia and brought Tbilisi closer to the West.
Although Saakashvili remains president, the defeat of his United National Movement by Bidzina Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream coalition in Monday's elections means he will lose control of parliament and the government.
“We will remain a regional player. Perhaps, for such a small country like Georgia it will be hard to have several strategic partners. But our correct steps and correct policies should make us acceptable both for our neighbors and the USA,” said Ivanishvili.
The opposition leader urged Saakashvili to resign and stage a snatch presidential poll. “This will save his face,” says the Georgian Dream coalition front man.
Saakashvili said he “remains” opposed to the coalition’s views, but is ready for talks and has a person to nominate for Prime Minister who would suit the Georgian Dream.
The election campaign in Georgia was marred by a flurry of accusations from both the ruling party and the opposition, with some experts labeling the campaign “the dirtiest ever in Georgia”.
On the eve of the elections the battle for electoral minds reached its zenith after national TV channels broadcast video evidence of torture and rape in a detention facility in the capital Tbilisi – with the connivance of, or even direct orders from, the ruling party.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in several Georgian cities over the abuses in a Tbilisi prison. The minister of execution of sentences resigned as a result of the atrocities.
The scandal may have further implivations for Saakashvili, points out Mark Almond, an Oxford historian and Visiting Professor of International Relations at Bilkent University in Turkey.
“[Saakashvili and his closest associates] could have not only lost the election but they could face serious legal complications, if the opposition which is now coming to power chooses to follow up the torture and abuse scandal, which was in many ways was the basis for a huge swing towards them,” Almond told RT.
On Monday, Georgian media reported national security forces clashed with local residents in the town of Khashuri, a town close to the country’s capital Tbilisi. Three people were injured at a polling station when rubber bullets and teargas were fired by security forces, claimed opposition news station TV-9. Reportedly the cause for the incident was some kind of attempted illegal activities at the polling station.
An observer group Transparency International Georgia has claimed falsifications took place in Khashuri.
“Our observer present at precinct No. 46 reported that Georgian Dream had most of the ballots in a vote summary protocol, but shortly afterwards, armed persons arrived at the precinct, and kicked all the observers out of the building. A new summary protocol was made in which the United National Movement was the winner; the District Election Commission accepted this very protocol,” TI Georgia was quoted by Civil Georgia news website.
The Public Chamber of Russia and the Democratic Research Problem Fund, working in close co-operation with Georgian activists, have accused Georgia’s ruling United National Movement party of a number of gruesome violations during the elections on October 1. This included electorate bribery attempts, bringing already-completed ballots to the stations, as well as prosecution and intimidation of opposition activists.
http://rt.com/news/georgian-parliame...hindering-476/