Tbilisi (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Georgia has investigated the alleged “falsification” of its parliamentary elections after the opposition declared the vote was “stolen” and Western countries slammed irregularities.
State prosecutors in Georgia expressed they had launched a probe into opposition allegations of possible falsification at a weekend parliamentary election in which the ruling Georgian Dream was reported to have succeeded. Official results presented the Georgian Dream with 54% of the vote and a straightforward majority in parliament vote. But opposition politicians have declared they will boycott the chamber in a demonstration at a result they said was illegitimate.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated is probe was being extended at the request of Georgia’s electoral commission, which has declared that the vote was free and fair.
“Prosecution Service of Georgia has launched an investigation into the alleged falsification of the parliamentary elections,” said a statement. The Prosecutor’s Office stated in a statement it had called Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, a government critic who has frequently expressed that the vote count was falsified but has not delivered evidence of that, to show evidence.
How has the opposition responded to the election results?
Opposition figures had cast the vote as a key moment in Georgian history, where the country was deciding between European Union integration with the opposition or a continuing ridge towards Russia under the Georgian Dream.
The opposition has blamed the Georgian Dream had using a Russian “methodology” to falsify the election result, noting two exit polls which had pointed to an opposition victory. Election observers, including the 57-nation Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), have stated that the vote was marked by happenings of voter intimidation, bribery and ballot stuffing that could have affected the result, but stopped short of calling it rigged.
Georgia has no diplomatic ties with Russia and Georgian Dream, which states it does want the South Caucasus country to one day join the EU, states it does not want the nation to be dragged into another confrontation with Moscow which won a short war against it in 2008.
