Demonstrators have gathered in front of the administration building of the Georgian government in central Tbilisi. Police did not allow them to lock the gate of the government administration building during the rally, which stirred an unrest.
One of the leaders of the Movement for Freedom-European Georgia Giga Bokeria, his associate, former mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava, member of the United National Movement party Zaal Udumashvili, leader of the New Georgia party Giorgi Vashadze are among the demonstrators.
Earlier, the opposition has announced that the parliament will be blocked again on November 26, "following a large-scale rally on November 25," Agenda.ge reported.
The protesters are demanding snap parliamentary elections with the use of a fully proportional electoral system, conducted by an interim government.
Protests in Tbilisi were sparked after the ruling Georgian Dream party proposed election bill last week was scrapped, which offered a transition to a fully proportional electoral system starting 2020 instead of 2024.
The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that a relatively small proportion of citizens has joined protests. "The broad masses do not support this process, since few people understand what a proportional system means, what a majority system means and what is the difference between them for a country and a people. According to all the polls, more than half of the Georgian population do not trust a single instance and do not plan to vote for any party," he said in the first place.
"And many people are hateful of those who joined the rallies as the accomplices of fascist Saakashvili, because they personally experienced his regime's crimes in the past. In fact, 5-6 thousand protesters across the whole Georgia are nothing," the head of the Institute of Management Strategy added.
At the same time, over time, these protests can develop into national ones. "This will happen if the Georgian Dream continues to make political mistakes like in the case of Russian deputy Gavrilov's arrival or the entry of security officials into the Pankisi Gorge," Petre Mamradze explained.
"If the government acts correctly and stops to make such blatant mistakes, population masses will not take part in the protests. There were violent protests in June, people shouted that Gakharia should resign as Interior Minister. Gakharia, meanwhile, did not resign and was appointed prime minister - and nothing happened," the political scientist emphasized.
