Today, it is increasingly clear to the world that there is no other way out of the country's crisis than to call new parliamentary elections, - one of the leaders of Strong Georgia, Salome Samadashvili, said when responding to the statement of the Bureau of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

According to her, the organization rarely makes such calls.

"I want to show the public once again how the joint struggle of our people against the Russian regime brings new results in terms of increasing international pressure on this illegitimate government. The Georgian people have been fighting for their European future for the 76th day. Today, it is increasingly clear to the world that there is no other way out of the country's crisis than to call new parliamentary elections.

In this context, I would like to respond to an important statement made yesterday by the Secretariat of the Congress of Local Authorities of the Council of Europe. A special mission was sent to Georgia to study the current political situation in the country and the conclusions drawn by this body (which will be a very important basis for the relevant European [institutions])... If new parliamentary elections are not scheduled in Georgia and the electoral environment does not change, there will be no point in holding local elections, which the illegitimate government announced in October. I would like the public to understand that this is an extremely unusual statement from this organization, because it is very rare and almost never happens that a call is made to postpone the elections if a corresponding political breakthrough does not occur before the elections.

Now it is up to Bidzina Ivanishvili to decide what he is doing. Submitting to the will of the Georgian people and international pressure, meaning he immediately starts work on scheduling new parliamentary elections, or he ends up in international isolation with all the corresponding consequences, as the European Parliament resolution will say this week - tightening the sanctions regime and further pressure on the regime.

At the same time, it is clear that the Georgian people must once again see that everything that is happening today is the result of their struggle. I hope that on Saturday, at the rally in defense of the European future, a lot of citizens will gather in Europe Square to make their voices heard," Samadashvili said.

For information, the Bureau of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe "calls on the Georgian government to pave the way for free and fair repeat elections at the national level." In addition, the Bureau calls on the Georgian government to take immediate steps to eliminate political and social polarization.