Thousands protest results of Georgia’s local elections

By SOPHIKO MEGRELIDZE
Associated Press

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Thousands of opposition supporters have filled the street outside Georgia’s national parliament building to protest municipal election results that gave the country’s ruling party a near-sweep. Candidates of the Georgian Dream party won 19 of the 20 municipal elections in runoff votes on Saturday, including the mayoral offices in the country’s five largest cities: Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Rustavi, Batumi and Poti. The opposition alleges fraud. However, an election-observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation In Europe said the “voting and counting were overall assessed positively despite some procedural issues, particularly during counting.”