Tens of thousands have protested the parliamentary election in Georgia, the country in the Caucasus region, over allegations of a rigged election that involved intimidation and vote-buying.
Al Jazeera reported that the Georgian Dream Party, which was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire who made his money in metals and banking in Russia, won the election late last month after receiving 48.23 percent of the vote. The United National Movement (UNM) received the second highest number of votes at 27.18 percent.
Gigi Ugulava, an opposition leader, told protesters last Saturday, “We will fight to the end and won’t allow our country to be governed by an oligarch.”
The Georgian Dream Party denied the allegations, but that did little to allay the outrage by protesters and other political parties. Al Jazeera reported the UNM said it would boycott parliament altogether.
Reuters reported that Ivanishvili’s critics claim he is the true power in the country of 3.7 million and runs the government from behind the scenes.
