Georgia's parliament speaker signals risk of constitutional coup after elections

Opposition parties in Georgia have allegedly prepared a scenario for a constitutional coup following the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26, according to Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

"There are all signs of such a scenario," he said in an interview with a local broadcaster, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Among the indicators that he named are "local observers who in reality pursue political goals, and their concocted false statements about the election process that have been prepared in advance" and the idea of a technical government, put forward by Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili.

"We are witnessing a preview of a constitutional coup and expect the past two weeks to be very active in this regard," the speaker added.

Georgia will hold parliamentary elections on October 26. The ruling party, which has been in power for 12 years, will try to win again for the fourth time in a row. Its main opponent is the United National Movement. A party must pass the five-percent threshold to win seats in the parliament.

News.Az