Saakashvili Calls for Boycott of Parliament and Protests

The former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, has called for a boycott of the parliamentary work and protests. This was reported by News.ru.

“Now is the time for large-scale protests to show the world that we are fighting for freedom and that we are a people who do not tolerate injustice. There is very little time left,” Saakashvili wrote on social media.

Opposition parties, which disagree with the election results and accuse the "Georgian Dream" of widespread fraud, are refusing parliamentary mandates and state funding. President Zurabishvili has also declined to recognize the election results. He is expected to make his first statement regarding the parliamentary election results in less than an hour.

About two dozen people have gathered in front of the government building, holding a portrait of Mikheil Saakashvili and waving flags of the European Union, Ukraine, and Georgia. They are also chanting anti-Russian slogans and demanding Saakashvili's freedom, reports AiF’s special correspondent Sergey Leonov from the scene.

After losing power in 2012, Saakashvili’s party placed third in the parliamentary elections for the first time.

The protest is proceeding peacefully, with the police not detaining anyone yet.