Bribes, ballot-stuffing claims: Prosecutors in Georgia to probe allegations of election fraud
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Georgia's President Salome Zourabichvili in Tbilisi on Oct 28 addressing people protesting against the result of an election won by the Georgian Dream party.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TBILISI – State prosecutors in Georgia said on Oct 30 they had launched an investigation into opposition allegations of possible falsification at a weekend parliamentary election
Official results gave Georgian Dream, a party which has deepened ties with Russia, 54 per cent of the vote and a clear majority in Parliament after a vote on Oct 26. But opposition politicians have said they will boycott the chamber in protest at a result they said was illegitimate.
The Georgian prosecutor’s office said in a statement it had summoned Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili, a critic who has repeatedly said the vote count was falsified but has not provided evidence of that, to testify on Oct 31.
Ms Zourabichvili and other opposition figures had cast the vote as a pivotal moment in Georgian history, where the country was choosing between European Union integration with the opposition, or a continuing drift towards Russia under Georgian Dream.
Georgia has no diplomatic relations with Russia, and Georgian Dream – which says it does want the South Caucasus country to one day join the EU – says it does not want the nation to be dragged into another conflict with Moscow which won a short war against it in 2008.
The Georgian prosecutor’s office said its probe was being opened at the request of Georgia’s electoral commission, which has said that the vote was free and fair.
The Georgian media on Oct 29 reported that the electoral commission had called for an investigation into what it called “baseless criticism” of the election.
Ms Zourabichvili told Reuters on Oct 28 that Georgian Dream had used a Russian “methodology” to falsify the election result, citing two exit polls which had pointed to an opposition victory.
Election observers, including the 57-nation Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe have said that the vote was marked by incidents of voter intimidation, bribery and ballot-stuffing that could have impacted the result, but stopped short of calling it rigged.
The Kremlin has denied interference allegations and accused the West of trying to unduly influence the outcome of the vote. REUTERS
