Opposition Leader Tells U.S. Diplomats U.S. Opinion on Georgian Elections Wrong

TBILISI. Jan 19 (Interfax) – Georgian united opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze has told high-ranking U.S. diplomats that the opposition disagreed with the U.S. assessment of the January 5 presidential elections in Georgia.

Gachechiladze, who met with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza and U.S. Ambassador to Georgia John Tefft on Satufday, told journalists following the meeting that he had informed the U.S. diplomats about violations during the elections.

“We said that the U.S. had committed a lot of mistakes in analyzing the process and outcomes of the presidential elections held in Georgia on January 5, as their outcomes were not the Georgian people’s choice,” Gachechiladze said.

The U.S. diplomats “promised that the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia will be much freer than the presidential elections,” Gachechiladze said.

Bryza, who arrived in Tbilisi on Friday to take part in Mikheil Saakashvili’s presidential inauguration ceremony on January 20, is holding meetings with government and opposition representatives.

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