Roelofs urges supporters to protest against election outcomes in Zugdidi

On May 20, Sandra Roelofs, a candidate for the post of Mayor of the city of Zugdidi, declared that she did not recognize the official outcomes of the election; while the opposition is launching protests all over Georgia.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 19, 2019, a number of Georgian municipalities voted at interim parliamentary elections and election of local self-governments. The hottest struggle was in Zugdidi. The opposition alliance "Strength in Unity" claimed 120 violations fixed at elections in the Zugdidi constituency.

According to the election results announced by the Georgia's Central Election Commission (CEC) on May 20, after processing of the ballots from all the polling stations, Giorgi Shengeliya, the candidate from the "Georgian Dream" Party, won the Mayor election in Zugdidi with 54.18% of the votes. The Former First Lady of Georgia, Sandra Roelofs, the nominee of the "United National Movement" (UNM) Party, was the runner-up with 42.75% of votes.

On May 20, Sandra Roelofs announced her disagreement with the official election totals. "I must devote myself to expelling Ivanishvili from Georgia, since his actions have crossed all the borders. We should not trust Ivanishvili to hold elections, as he is not able to hold them. We should gather; not a single street, not a single village and not a single settlement should stay outside protests. All together, holding each other's hands, we must reach Tbilisi and get rid of Ivanishvili," Sandra Roelofs said at a briefing (as translated by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent).

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 21, 2019 at 10:27 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.