“We are not here as enemies. “We are not here to force a regime change,” he said, adding that a comprehensive investigation into voter manipulation should be conducted.
Kakh Kaladze, secretary-general of the ruling Georgian Dream party and mayor of Tbilisi, said in a message to the media late on Monday that visiting EU politicians were “ordinary pests” and accused them of “spreading lies.”
But Frédéric Petit, vice-chair of the French parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said the government was missing an opportunity to work with the EU to resolve the deadlock.
“As a member of parliament, it’s surprising to me that a member of parliament would say, ‘I’m not going to meet with you because you don’t agree with me.’ “To me, this is a complete rejection of what democracy means.”
Opposition figures in Georgia have urged the EU not to recognize the results of an election in which Georgian Dream won a surprise majority. Brussels called for a thorough investigation into allegations of ballot stuffing, vote buying and intimidation. Traffic in the capital was disrupted on Sunday night as protesters blocked major roads and demanded the government call new elections.
Georgia’s EU accession process, which was granted candidate status last year, was halted over the summer after Georgian Dream passed a slew of Russian-style laws targeting Western-backed NGOs and cracking down on LGBTQ+ rights.
