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%.