More than 600 businesses sign statement calling for new elections

The number of signatories to the collective statement by the Free Business association has exceeded 600, including some of Georgia’s largest business chains and local franchises of global companies like McDonalds and Spar. In the statement, the businesses demand new parliamentary elections to ‘de-escalate the situation’ in the country and the release of those detained during protests.

‘The current crisis has transcended the boundaries of party politics and is posing an imminent social and economic threat to the country. An urgent de-escalation of the situation is necessary’, the statement read.

‘The most pragmatic way to de-escalate is to schedule new elections and release those arrested during the recent processes before the New Year. We, representatives of Georgian business, are responsible for the fate of the country and its irreversible development, regardless of our political preferences, and we sign this call and statement’.