Georgia investigating election fraud allegations

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Georgia investigating election fraud allegations

Georgia state prosecutors said Wednesday they had opened an investigation into Saturday’s congressional elections amid ongoing allegations that the vote was rigged.

The ruling Georgian Dream party won the election with 54 percent of the vote, according to the electoral commission, a figure that would give it a clear majority in parliament.

The opposition claimed the elections were rigged. Western countries and international observers have also expressed concerns, citing cases of voter intimidation, vote buying, double voting and violence.

The opposition took to the streets of Tbilisi earlier this week in a rally condemning the results.

Prosecutors summoned President Salomé Zourabichvili, who is aligned with the pro-Western opposition, to testify, but she questioned why she should testify about election rigging.

“It’s not up to the president to provide proof of election fraud,” she told reporters Wednesday. “Observers and ordinary citizens showed how rigged the elections were.”

The investigating agency, she said, “should have found the evidence itself.”

Zourabichvili accused in an interview with Reuters on Monday that Georgian Dream had used Russian methodology to falsify some election results.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, a member of Georgian Dream, called on Zourabichvili to hand over any evidence of fraud to the authorities. He said he believed she had no such evidence.

Zourabichvili said the opposition was calling for an investigation “led by an international mission with the appropriate mandate and qualifications” to examine how the election was conducted. Until that is possible, she said, “this election cannot and will not have legitimacy or trust.”

Some election observers were cautious about calling the Georgia vote rigged. Some observers, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, admitted that irregularities were reported during the vote, but the organization stopped short of calling the election rigged.

Russia has denied interference in Georgian elections.

Georgia’s election comes at a crucial time for the former Soviet republic as it seeks to join the European Union. However, many consider the Georgian dream to be more aligned with Russia than the EU.

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