Zourabichvili has no authority to recognize or not recognize elections — Johnny Melikyan

There is no unity in the Georgian opposition, Expert on Georgia Johnny Melikyan told Alpha News.

According to him, the fact that a few days before the elections, President Salome Zourabichvili refused to name the future prime minister of the coalition opposition government already shows that there is no unity in the ranks of the opposition.

“But it should also be noted that the voting took place electronically, with a photo of the voter displayed there. I’m saying this because there are talks about violations. The arguments about violations are weak; at least in the case of at least 75% of the constituents, it is difficult to say that there were violations. Yes, there were some violations and problems, but at least at this stage it was not mentioned that the elections were not transparent or did not meet the standards.

We can say the elections were held more or less with some reservations and violations, but the president declares that she does not recognize the results, although President Zourabichvili does not have the authority to recognize or not recognize these elections. And today she’s using her powers,” Melikyan said.

The expert stressed that the opposition in some regions was passive, especially in Armenian-populated and Azerbaijani-populated areas.

“Post-election processes have always been in Georgia after each election, but these unprecedented elections are taking place amid a complex geopolitical situation as well as rather extreme polarization within the country. In my opinion, both the authorities and the opposition are guilty of this. You cannot blame just one side.

I think Georgia’s foreign partners should appeal to the opposition as well. We can say that what we see today was expected, since the opposition in some regions was passive, especially in Armenian-populated and Azerbaijani-populated areas. In my opinion, they were preparing for post-election processes, not for election day,” Melikyan concluded.