Pro-Western Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who has broken with the ruling Georgian Dream party, said she will not recognize the results of parliamentary elections held on October 26 and alleged that the country has been the victim of a “Russian special operation.” Zurabishvili did not present any evidence to back up her claim in a brief statement to the media in Tbilisi on October 27. “As the only remaining independent institution in this state, I want to say that I do not recognize this election. It cannot be recognized. It would be the same as recognizing Russia's entry here -- Georgian subordination to Russia,” she said. “I didn't come to Georgia for [Russian domination]. Our ancestors did not live for this. We will not tolerate this. It cannot be taken away from Georgia -- its European future," she added. She called for street protests starting on October 28 at 7 p.m. in the South Caucasus nation, which has seen mass demonstrations in recent months against the ruling Georgian Dream party, which critics accuse of being pro-Russian and of having eroded democratic norms. She blasted what she called a “Russian special operation -- one of the new forms of hybrid warfare carried out on our people, our country.” The Georgian Dream party celebrated an apparent win in the vote, but the pro-Western opposition cried foul and election monitors said that “critical violations took place,” including voter intimidation and physical violence. - RFE/RL
Despite credible media reports of voting day irregularities, western election monitoring groups held back on calling Sunday’s polling in Georgia as election fraud. Instead the large coalition of observers under the OSCE and another led by the International Republican Institute said they detected an “uneven playing field, pressure and tension, intimidation and harassment.” Opposition groups also said they documented irregularities, with one opponent telling the BBC he was beaten by men after he tried to report ballot box irregularities to the police. It is rare for international election monitoring groups to be far out of sync with international media reporting.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
Donald Trump hosted a rally featuring crude and racist insults at New York’s Madison Square Garden Sunday, turning what his campaign had dubbed as the event where he would deliver his closing message into an illustration of what turns off his critics. With just over a week before Election Day, speakers labeled Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” called Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris “the devil,” and said the woman vying to become the first woman and Black woman president had begun her career as a prostitute. Trump’s childhood friend David Rem referred to Harris as “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” Businessman Grant Cardone told the crowd that Harris ”and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.” The marquee event reflected the former president’s tone throughout his third White House campaign. Though he refrained from doing so Sunday, Trump often tears into Harris in offensive and personal terms himself, questioning in recent weeks her mental stability and her intelligence as well as calling her “lazy,” long a racist trope used against Black people. - AP
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
