In Georgia, votes are counted in the country's early parliamentary elections

The program is conducted by Mark Krutov. The Radio Liberty correspondent in Tbilisi George Kobaladze takes part.

Mark Krutov: In Georgia, votes are counted at the early parliamentary elections that have passed yesterday in the country. According to preliminary data, the ruling President of President Mikhail Saakashvili “Unified National Movement” wins. The opposition declares mass falsifications and promises that after the first protest, which has already taken place last night in Tbilisi, will follow a new one.

Georgy Kobaladze: the press-speaker of the Central Election Commission, Zurab Kachkachishvili published the first preliminary but official data on the elections to the Georgian parliament. These figures became known after the counting of about 10 percent of the vote. In general, they confirm the forecast of several non -governmental organizations that published the results of the Exit Poll on the eve. According to the official data of the CEC, the ruling party “The Unified National Movement” is the leader, which gained almost 63 percent of the vote according to proportional lists. In second place, the United Opposition is almost 14 percent. The 5 percent barrier was also overcame by the Labor and “Christian Democrats”. But the Republican Party, consisting of intellectuals and dissidents of the Soviet era, apparently does not fall into parliament. At the same time, the CEC canceled the election results in several polling stations due to obvious violations, but this is unlikely to affect the final result.

Immediately after the release of the results of Exit Poll, President Saakashvili spoke through all the Georgian television channels and thanked the citizens for his activity and support.

Mikhail Saakashvili: According to all the data, the elections were mainly calm. The multinational people of Georgia expressed their will. I will not hide from you, even I am surprised by the highest level of support that we received as a result of the elections. And this is despite the four years of very painful reforms. The new parliament will be much more pluralistic and multi -party system than the previous one. I promise that I will meet even with the smallest faction in parliament. In addition, despite the fact that our party received an almost constitutional majority, we will not change the constitution, as many are afraid of. In any case, without broad consultations with political forces in parliament and the country.

Georgy Kobaladze: In the meantime, the opposition does not agree with the results of the elections and intends to seek their review. The day before, the opposition did not dare (as threatened before the elections) to storm the central election commission, when there was a counting of votes. According to observers, the opposition really appreciated its forces and, since in the future parliament they guarantee a representative office (albeit not very significant), the opposition decided not to aggravate the situation. In any case, on the streets of Tbilisi, neither reinforced police or special forces detachments, nor water areas, which, according to the press, were introduced into the city to accelerate possible protests.