Georgia: Ivanishvili’s call for President Saakashvili’s resignation, a direct attack against democracy and the rule of law

Tuesday 02 October 2012

By EU Reporter correspondent

The President of the European People’s Party (EPP), Wilfried Martens, made the following statement on the
results of yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Georgia:

"The parliamentary elections which took place in Georgia have reinforced
significantly the country’s democratic credentials. Despite the foul campaign
practices from the challengers, I take note of the result and I commend
President Mikheil  Saakashvili for respecting it and for facilitating a peaceful
transition of power. In the next five years, the democratic debate - with the
United National Movement (UNM) as the opposition party - will take place in the
parliament, not in the streets. For the past nine years, President Saakashvili
and the governments of the UNM  - a member-party of the EPP - consolidated
and cherished democracy and the rule of law in Georgia. It is not suprising
that the OSCE has stated that ‘the Georgian people have freely expressed their
will’ and that ‘there were no grave violations during the voting’. Thanks to
President Saakshvili and the UNM, Georgia has become a truly democratic and
European country."

"Needless to say, the EPP will be monitoring very closely the new government, which will
be formed by Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ‘Georgian Dream’ coalition, because it
remains to be seen if they will preserve the country’s democratic achievements
and if they will keep Georgia on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration. But to
my astonishment, even as the votes are still being counted, Mr. Ivanishvili has
called for President Saakashvili’s resignation. This call is totally
unacceptable and is a direct attack against democracy and the rule of law.
Therefore, I expect all those European politicians who were quick to
congratulate Ivanishvili today, to publicly denounce his call for the
President’s resignation and to demand for an immediate retraction. Moreover, I
will be working closely with our EPP parliamentary groups in the European
Parliament, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, in order to safeguard the
country’s democratic achievements; I also call on all other relevant EU
institutions to do the same and the European Commission in particular, which is
negotiating an Association Agreement with Georgia."