Parliament speaker: Opposition to drag Georgia into war with Russia

Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili has warned that if the opposition wins the upcoming parliamentary election, Georgia could be drawn into a military confrontation with Russia.

Papuashvili made these remarks during a briefing, Caliber.Az reports via Georgian media. 

He highlighted that one of the calls in a recently adopted European Parliament resolution regarding Georgia was to impose sanctions on Moscow, a move that the Georgian opposition has endorsed.

"National Movement" and "Lelo" parties have included commitments to support sanctions against Russia in their electoral platforms. 

"This commitment from them would lead to Georgia's escalation with Russia, which would directly mean economic destruction and military conflict for Georgia," Papuashvili stated.

The parliamentary election is scheduled to take place in Georgia on October 26. This will be the first election to use electronic voting machines, which will be installed at 74 per cent of polling stations, covering nearly 90 per cent of voters. In addition to devices that read votes from ballots, technology will also be employed to verify voters. 

The "Georgian Dream — Democratic Georgia" ruling party which has been in power for 12 years will aim for a fourth consecutive victory. Its main opponent, as in previous elections, is the United National Movement, founded by ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili. To secure a place in parliament, parties must surpass a five per cent electoral threshold.

By Naila Huseynova