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Ex-speaker of Georgian parliament says exit polls are instrument of manipulating public opinion

Former speaker of the Georgian parliament and candidate for president Nino Burdzhanadze said on Sunday she did not trust exit poll results

TBILISI, October 27 (Itar-Tass) - Former speaker of the Georgian parliament and candidate for president Nino Burdzhanadze said on Sunday she did not trust exit poll results.

Exit polls, in her words, “are a good possibility to manipulate public opinion.” “I know the real state of things at local levels, I know the moods of voters and I know how many votes I can win,” she said.

“In conditions when election commissions are dominated by representatives of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and the United National Movement party, while we have only observer status there, any kinds of falsifications are possible at polling stations, such as ballot stuffing, adjustments of protocols,” she said. “That is why we must protect our votes.”

Earlier on Sunday, Irakly Batishvili, the head of Durdzhanadze’s elections headquarters accused the ruling coalition Georgian Dream and the previous ruling party United National Movement of “rigging elections not let Nino Burdzhanadze win the elections.”

“After reports were coming by 16:00 Moscow time that Nino Burdzhanadze was ahead of other candidates, representatives from the Georgian Dream and the United National Movement got united to try to falsify the voting results,” he said. “For these ends, they used the so-called carousel voting and other techniques.”

He said that the Democratic Movement United Georgia association, which is lead by Nino Burdzhanadze, “receives parallel voting results from all polling stations.” According to these results, “runoff elections involving Nino Burdzhanadze and Georgy Margvelashvili of the Georgian Dream are inevitable.”