Western-oriented Georgian opposition spreading Armenophobia following  parliamentary election results

ArmInfo. The Western-oriented Georgian opposition has started spreading Armenophobia in the country following their disastrous results in Sunday's parliamentary elections.

Former staffer of the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili, who is now a representative of the "National Movement", Alexandre Crevaux-Asatiani, accused Armenians of  being responsible for Ivanishvili's victory. "I am not Armenian. I do not know enough about domestic Armenian politics to dare and make comments on it. But. Everyone needs to understand that the most obvious cases of fraud happened in ethnic Armenian majority districts. Some parts of Ninotsminda some 95% results  for the Georgian Dream.  We saw in some parts violence, intimidation, bribery, ballot stuffing. And all that for what? For a government that has forcefully kept ethnic minorities and regions like Ninotsminda in deep poverty to avoid giving them a voice.  When Pashinyan endorses Georgian Dream's fraud, he says it's Ok to use ethnic Armenian communities as pawns," the oppositioner wrote on Twitter.

In turn, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili herself used the term "Armenian carousel" in an interview with the Associated Press when referring to the falsifications in the recent elections. Although it is widely known that the practice of repeat voting is not unique to Armenia and was not invented by Armenians.  Zurabishvili emphasized that the elections on October 26 were falsified using sophisticated methods. "This included various violations such as intimidation and pressuring people reliant on public service, or those who are socially vulnerable. These were people who have been manipulated in the past, at different times, but this time it was coupled with the use of technology," the president stated.

When asked about the president's meaning behind the term , Zurabishvili responded- "Armenian carousel". "Armenian carousel" - we call it "Armenian carousel" here, I don't know if they call it "Georgian carousel". This practice involves taking away identity cards from socially vulnerable people, families of prisoners before the elections under various pretexts.  No one could understand why they were doing this. In fact, they (the cards - ed.) were used for voting by the same person. By using one identity card and various electronic devices, it was possible to vote approximately 17 times. They had access to a large number of identity cards or numbers," the head of state said It is noteworthy that Zurabishvili for some reason did not notice the mass ballot stuffing in Marneuli, a region  predominantly populated by Azerbaijanis. The situation escalated to the point where the Central Election Commission of Georgia annulled the results of the voting at polling stations in this area.  Thus, it turns out that the President of Georgia is fueling anti-Armenian sentiments in the country with his statements. And this is against the backdrop of reports from the Georgian media indicating a trend where national minorities vote for the ruling party in the country (not only those of Armenian nationality).

We would like to add that, according to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission of Georgia, the Georgian Dream received over 50% of the votes, with four opposition coalitions surpassing the 5% threshold. The breakdown is as follows: Georgian Dream - 53,931%; Coalition For Change - 11,035%; Coalition Unity-National Movement - 10,167%; Coalition Strong Georgia - 8.81%; Gakharia for Georgia - 7.768%.