Geogrian parliament speaker appeals for unity within legislature

The Georgian parliament speaker Wednesday appealed for a united front within the legislature to avert political crisis following the ruling party's concession of defeat in parliamentary elections. Political crisis would ensue should the newly-elected majority and the now minority ruling party fail to cooperate in the legislature, warned David Bakradze, the outgoing parliament speaker from the ruling United National Movement party. President Mikhail Saakashvili on Tuesday conceded defeat in a televised speech and said the opposition Georgian Dream had the right to form a government. Opposition leader Bidzina Ivanishvili later urged the incumbent president to resign. "We set an example with our statement (conceding election defeat) about how to respect people's opinion, state and democracy," Bakradze said. "We expect Georgian Dream to do the same." "We are waiting for our opponents to show rudimentary respect toward the Georgian statehood and constitution," he said, adding that "speaking about snap presidential polls today shows disrespect to the Georgian people and violates the constitution." The South Caucasus country has set the next presidential election for October next year.