Senator Jeanne Shaheen spoke about the importance of a peaceful transition of power and brought Georgia's 2012 elections as an example.
In her address, Senator Shaheen said that she observed the 2012 elections, which the US defined as free and fair.
"I've traveled to developing democracies around the world, to Afghanistan and Iraq to the Western Balkans, to Africa, to the country of Georgia. I went there with my colleague, Senator Risch, in 2012.
We went to Georgia to observe officially, on behalf of the Senate, the election between outgoing President Mikhail Saakashvili and his United National Movement party, and the challenge by the Georgian Dream, which was a newly formed party, supported and funded by billionaire Oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili. This battle was not only for the parliament but also for control of the government. Senator Risch and I visited multiple polling places on election day, and we agreed with the international assessment that that election was free and fair and the Georgian Dream were the winners. But those were real concerns in the country that Saakashvili would refuse to give up the power, and that would lead to violence.
So, Senator Risch and I, the day after the election, went to visit President Saakashvili. And I remember very clearly going to his home, and we sat down with him, and we pointed out that the hallmark of the democracy, for what he worked so hard in his eight years as a President of Georgia, would be to give the power peacefully to those who the voters chose. President Saakashvili listened to us and left the office peacefully. But it's important that future generations must recognize that America, like democracies everywhere, depends on a peaceful transition of power", Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said.
The Voice of America has spread the Senator's address.
The U.S. Congress was to approve the presidential election results today, but supporters of President Donald Trump breached the US Capitol to fight against the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes that confirmed President-elect Joe Biden's win.
