Ex-first lady Roelofs urges diplomatic corps to prevent rigging of by-elections
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, May 16
Sandra Roelofs, the former first lady of Georgia, is running for Zugdidi mayor in western Georgia. According to her, the Georgian Dream leadership is "taking all steps" to rig the May 19 by-elections. Roelofs met with the foreign diplomats on Wednesday.
“We asked diplomatic corps to react to this situation to prevent the repetition of what happened in the second round of presidential elections [last year] - bribery, rigging and pressure,” said Roelofs after the meeting.
According to her, she has shown a video to the diplomats, which depicts how several people, which she thinks were members of the Georgian Dream party, verbally abused her and physically insulted others on May 14 in the yard of the Dadiani Palace in Zugdidi.
Police detained one individual connected to the incident, who told the media that he will “never allow Roelofs to enter the Samegrelo region.”
Roelofs stated that the Georgian Central Election Commission has handed voters’ lists to the Zugdidi polling stations five days before the elections, which “will be used to influence voters, as the lists include personal information and photos of the voters.”
The Georgian Central Election Commission has dismissed the allegations regarding the voters’ lists by saying that the lists must have been handed over “no later than May 17.”
However, “to avoid speculations,” CEC decided to take back the lists and hand them to the polling stations, several hours before the elections along with the ballot papers.
After the meeting with Roelofs, H.E. Jos Douma, the ambassador of the Netherlands to Georgia, stated: “I hope we will be able to say on Sunday that free and transparent elections were held in Georgia.”
Roelofs ran for Zugdidi MP in 2016. However, neither she, nor the Georgian Dream ruling party candidate, won in the first round of elections.
She refused to participate in the second round, claiming that the results of the first round were fabricated.
Irakli Chikovani, the member of the ruling party, says that the United National Movement and its allied parties, which nominated Roelofs, are losing the elections and are trying to discredit the election process.
Six foreign and 49 local organizations will observe the elections in Tbilisi and the regions.
The elections will be held in Tbilisi to elect the MP for the Mtatsminda district, to fill the mandate that was left vacant when Salome Zourabichvili became the President of Georgia.
People in the Sagarejo, Akhmeta, Adigeni, Zestaponi, Chiatura, Tkibuli, Tskaltubo and Ozurgeti regions will elect the members of their city councils on 19th.
Mayors of Marneuli, Zestaponi, Chiatura, Zugdidi and Khulo will also be elected, as three of them resigned and two were charged with crimes.
