Paata Burchuladze, a civil activist and renowned Georgian operatic bass, has announced that “telephone elections” in Georgia will likely be held in September.

Following the opposition’s meeting on Thursday, Burchuladze explained that Estonia has experience in conducting phone voting. “We are creating a major alternative – the people of Georgia against the current so-called parliament.”

“Some might laugh at the idea of telephone voting, but Estonia already has good experience with this system, and we plan to adopt it. The telephone won’t leak information like Georgian Dream’s paper ballots do. We expect these elections will be held in September.

Discussions are underway about how to conduct the elections. Our motto will be that ‘we won’t let you hold rigged elections.’ I can imagine this working legally. We have a genuinely elected president, Salome Zourabichvili. We still have the Supreme Council, which has never been abolished – Zviad Gamsakhurdia’s government, which has regrouped and stands with us. As for Georgian Dream, they have nobody; they appointed themselves.

Gakharia for Georgia members weren’t here today, but I had a personal meeting with Gakharia; Mr. Giorgi stated that if we hold these elections, he will join us.

Today we’re not asking parties to unite into one big party; we’re asking them to unite around our idea, which is these meetings,” Burchuladze added.

A civil activist, Paata Burchuladze, organised an opposition gathering today, attended by figures such as Levan Khabeishvili, Zurab Japaridze, Giorgi Vashadze, Gia Bughadze, Koba Khabazi, and Paata Manjgaladze. Reportedly, the attendees discussed the possibility of holding alternative, popular elections in the country.