European politicians' statements on Georgia are interference in electoral process - ruling party Georgian Dream

TBILISI. Oct 17 (Interfax) - Maka Bochorishvili, chairperson of the Georgian parliament's committee on European integration, who represents the country's ruling party Georgian Dream, has criticized the statements made by some Western politicians on the internal political situation in Georgia, saying such statements are attempts to influence the October 26 parliamentary election.

"It's not a normal situation when politicians and leaders of other countries speak so much about who should be in power in Georgia. An election has recently been held in Lithuania, but there were no statements from politicians in Georgia on who should be in power in Lithuania," Bochorishvili said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell earlier again accused the Georgian authorities of deviation from democratic standards. "The next election will be the moment of truth, and the Georgian people will have to decide which way they want to go: towards Europe or getting apart from Europe. There is an important moment for us, and for Georgia, it's still more because it is the future of the country, which is at stake," Borrell was quoted by Georgian media as saying to reporters in Brussels on Thursday.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also told reporters in Brussels that "it will be critically important elections in Georgia, because Georgian people will decide on the direction to, if they will stay and will keep the same status quo like now, I don't think that Georgia has chances to proceed."

Bochorishvili said Georgia is now going through a pre-election period and political parties need to speak about their programs, but instead of that they have to comment on foreign politicians' statements.

"We have to speak about Borrell calling Georgia an authoritarian country when there are no preconditions for such statement. Such statements and resolutions coming from outside are absolutely not characteristic of a pre-election period, and we can confidently speak about attempts to influence our election," Bochorishvili said.