The News in Brief
Wednesday, September 7
GDDG, UNM Trade Accusations
The GDDG ruling party has accused the UNM opposition party of intentionally provoking “confrontations” at campaign events ahead of the October 8 parliamentary elections, an allegation dismissed by UNM as “absurd”. They claim the accusation was leveled by the ruling party in an attempt to distract public attention from actual problems faced by the country.
Speaking on behalf of her party, GDDG’s MP candidate Tamar Chugoshvili said on September 5 without giving any specifics “The United National Movement, which is definitely going to lose the upcoming elections and has no public support, sees its only chance is stirring some kind of turmoil.”
“As far as we know, they plan to provoke various types of confrontation during our [campaign] events, as well as to bring into the electoral campaign tensions and confrontation,” she said.
“It is very important for our country to hold elections in calm environment – not only the ruling party, but also other political forces are responsible for that…we also call on our supporters not to apply such methods and not to provoke any confrontation. If a provocation is staged by others, we encourage our supporters not to yield to such provocations,” Chugoshvili said, and also called on the election monitoring groups to keep a close eye on “cases which may obstruct the holding of elections in a calm environment.”
Responding to the allegation, UNM MP candidate Salome Samadashvili said “It is very regrettable that the Georgian Dream party, which has nothing else to tell the Georgian people and whose defeat in the elections is actually guaranteed, has decided to carry out pre-election processes with such absurd allegations. This accusation shows only one thing – Georgian Dream wants to obstruct UNM with all possible means, since we are the only political force capable of bringing country out of the current crisis.”
“Instead of speaking about actual problems faced by the country, the authorities, which organized [violent incident in the village of] Kortskheli [in May, 2016], are now speaking about invented threats,” another UNM MP candidate, Sergi Kapanadze, said.
Ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has launched a campaign for GDDG party through his TV appearances, told journalists from the Guria region in Ozurgeti on September 5 that ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now governor of Odessa region, encourages his supporters in the UNM party to stir disorder during the pre-election period.
“Saakashvili is inciting his supporters to mess the situation up…there will be attempts to bring chaos, but they [UNM] have no resources to do it,” Ivanishvili said.
Saakashvili responded through a post on his Facebook page: “Ivanishvili and his puppets started shouting that we [UNM] are fermenting disorder. As a rule, he is blaming opponents for what he himself is planning. This photo shows well what kind of disorder we are preparing. Ivanishvili is losing these elections.” The post is accompanied by a photo showing his wife, Sandra Roelofs, who is campaigning as another UNM MP candidate, taking pictures with a group of young people.
Later on Monday afternoon, when Roelofs was holding a campaign meeting with supporters in the village of Jikhashkari in the Zugdidi municipality of the Samegrelo region, a group of men approached the event reportedly shouting insults at Roelofs. The UNM accused local authorities of being behind their actions. (Civil.ge)
Tbilisi car repair shop killer caught in Zestaponi
On Monday, police arrested a 24-year-old suspected of murdering a mechanic a few hours earlier in Tbilisi.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has stated that a man was arrested for premeditated murder and illegally purchasing, storing and carrying a weapon.
The suspect was arrested in Zestaponi, a town in western Georgia, a few hours after the murder took place in Tbilisi’s Vake district following a dispute.
Co-workers told Interpressnews that the murder suspect asked the victim for assistance, who told him to wait for his turn. Instead the customer went and got a gun and killed the repair shop employee, an electrician.
The victim was taken to hospital but his life could not be saved. (DF watch)
Allies have expectations for highest-standard elections – James Appathurai
“Georgia’s international allies have expectations for the highest-standard elections,” Special Representative of NATO Secretary General James Appathurai has said.
According to him, the visit of the NATO Secretary General demonstrates his personal support.
He has also responded to the ownership issue of the Rustavi 2 TV company, saying NATO is closely following media freedom via its Tbilisi Office.
“Media freedom is important for all of Georgia’s allies,” Appathurai declared. (IPN)
The GDDG ruling party has accused the UNM opposition party of intentionally provoking “confrontations” at campaign events ahead of the October 8 parliamentary elections, an allegation dismissed by UNM as “absurd”. They claim the accusation was leveled by the ruling party in an attempt to distract public attention from actual problems faced by the country.
Speaking on behalf of her party, GDDG’s MP candidate Tamar Chugoshvili said on September 5 without giving any specifics “The United National Movement, which is definitely going to lose the upcoming elections and has no public support, sees its only chance is stirring some kind of turmoil.”
“As far as we know, they plan to provoke various types of confrontation during our [campaign] events, as well as to bring into the electoral campaign tensions and confrontation,” she said.
“It is very important for our country to hold elections in calm environment – not only the ruling party, but also other political forces are responsible for that…we also call on our supporters not to apply such methods and not to provoke any confrontation. If a provocation is staged by others, we encourage our supporters not to yield to such provocations,” Chugoshvili said, and also called on the election monitoring groups to keep a close eye on “cases which may obstruct the holding of elections in a calm environment.”
Responding to the allegation, UNM MP candidate Salome Samadashvili said “It is very regrettable that the Georgian Dream party, which has nothing else to tell the Georgian people and whose defeat in the elections is actually guaranteed, has decided to carry out pre-election processes with such absurd allegations. This accusation shows only one thing – Georgian Dream wants to obstruct UNM with all possible means, since we are the only political force capable of bringing country out of the current crisis.”
“Instead of speaking about actual problems faced by the country, the authorities, which organized [violent incident in the village of] Kortskheli [in May, 2016], are now speaking about invented threats,” another UNM MP candidate, Sergi Kapanadze, said.
Ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has launched a campaign for GDDG party through his TV appearances, told journalists from the Guria region in Ozurgeti on September 5 that ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now governor of Odessa region, encourages his supporters in the UNM party to stir disorder during the pre-election period.
“Saakashvili is inciting his supporters to mess the situation up…there will be attempts to bring chaos, but they [UNM] have no resources to do it,” Ivanishvili said.
Saakashvili responded through a post on his Facebook page: “Ivanishvili and his puppets started shouting that we [UNM] are fermenting disorder. As a rule, he is blaming opponents for what he himself is planning. This photo shows well what kind of disorder we are preparing. Ivanishvili is losing these elections.” The post is accompanied by a photo showing his wife, Sandra Roelofs, who is campaigning as another UNM MP candidate, taking pictures with a group of young people.
Later on Monday afternoon, when Roelofs was holding a campaign meeting with supporters in the village of Jikhashkari in the Zugdidi municipality of the Samegrelo region, a group of men approached the event reportedly shouting insults at Roelofs. The UNM accused local authorities of being behind their actions. (Civil.ge)
Tbilisi car repair shop killer caught in Zestaponi
On Monday, police arrested a 24-year-old suspected of murdering a mechanic a few hours earlier in Tbilisi.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has stated that a man was arrested for premeditated murder and illegally purchasing, storing and carrying a weapon.
The suspect was arrested in Zestaponi, a town in western Georgia, a few hours after the murder took place in Tbilisi’s Vake district following a dispute.
Co-workers told Interpressnews that the murder suspect asked the victim for assistance, who told him to wait for his turn. Instead the customer went and got a gun and killed the repair shop employee, an electrician.
The victim was taken to hospital but his life could not be saved. (DF watch)
Allies have expectations for highest-standard elections – James Appathurai
“Georgia’s international allies have expectations for the highest-standard elections,” Special Representative of NATO Secretary General James Appathurai has said.
According to him, the visit of the NATO Secretary General demonstrates his personal support.
He has also responded to the ownership issue of the Rustavi 2 TV company, saying NATO is closely following media freedom via its Tbilisi Office.
“Media freedom is important for all of Georgia’s allies,” Appathurai declared. (IPN)