Amidst continuing protestations surrounding the recent election controversy in Azerbaijain, Georgia’s President and U.S. ally Eduard Shevardnadze is facing accusations of govt. vote-rigging in the November 2nd parliamentary vote.
The chief source of opposition-administration tension is the disparate results from the November 2 parliamentary vote. Official Central Election Commission (CEC) results showed the pro-Shevardnadze For a New Georgia bloc receiving the most votes with 24.4 percent, and Mikheil Saakashvili’s National Movement finishing second with 22.5 percent. A parallel vote count, however, showed the National Movement finishing first with 26.3 percent and For a New Georgia trailing with 18.9 percent. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
As parliamentary seats will be allotted according to the percentage of votes won, For a New Georgia would be well positioned to retain control of parliament if the CEC results are accepted. An international observer mission organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe found that the Georgian vote was marked by numerous irregularities.
Shevardnadze sought to minimize the vote controversy, saying Georgia was about to enter a “new phase of democracy.”
I believe Americans are becoming uncomfortably familiar with this ‘new phase of democracy’ he refers to.
For your viewing pleasure “Unprecendented: The 2000 Presidential Election” will be airing on the Sundance Channel this month:
Tuesday evening Nov 4th, 8 PM
Sunday afternoon Nov 8th, 1:15 PM
Sunday afternoon Nov 16th, 12 noon
Wednesday evening Nov 19th, 9 PM
Friday evening, Nov 21st, 12:45 AM.
Link via Greg Palast
I only caught the last 40 minutes of it due to work and was disappointed with its handling of the disrupted Miami-Dade vote counting. I thought the documenting of the behaviour of the hired thugs, who according to tax records were paid by none other than George W., was too kind.