Georgian Parliament official: ALDE resolution another attack on Georgia’s state, people’s will

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Georgian Parliament, on Tuesday denounced a resolution by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) as an assault on the Georgian state and its people’s electoral choice.

In his remarks, Samkharadze portrayed the resolution as another in a series of attacks on Georgian institutions and the public’s will.

“This is yet another attack on the Georgian state, Georgian institutions, and the will of the Georgian people”, he said.

The official asserted that these kinds of criticisms and calls for punitive measures were futile, as the true source of political legitimacy in Georgia lied with its voters, not foreign political entities.

“These attacks yield no results and have no significance whatsoever because the Georgian people themselves decide whom to grant legitimacy. In European political circles, there were people who advised the ODIHR not to come to Georgia to observe the elections, and among them were members of our Georgian radical opposition who held the same view - that the ODIHR should not come to Georgia to observe the elections”, he noted.

“This scenario was pre-planned and pre-staged by them. They simply used the pretext that the Georgian Government supposedly sent the invitation letter late”, Samkharadze concluded.

This is the regrettable influence we are witnessing in Brussels - a certain Sovietisation, a Soviet wind that has turned into a storm in the corridors of various Brussels institutions, said on Monday Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, commenting on the resolution adopted by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) regarding Georgia.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on Saturday adopted a resolution at its party congress in Brussels condemning what it described as “rigged elections” in Georgia and calling on the European Union to impose targeted sanctions.