Georgian Prosecutor’s Office to investigate claims of voter fraud in parliamentary elections

Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into electoral fraud allegedly carried out during Saturday’s parliamentary election, and has summoned Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili for questioning, it announced on Wednesday.

Zourabichvili is to be questioned on Thursday, the statement said, following suggestions made by both the Central Election Commission and a number of media outlets that she was in possession of evidence of ballot tampering.

“We would like to inform the public that ... law enforcement agencies are actively investigating multiple criminal cases,” the Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

According to official election data, the ruling pro-Russian Georgian Dream party won the election with almost 54% of the vote, giving it a majority in the new parliament.

The country’s four main opposition parties, which collectively won 61 of the 150 seats in the legislature, have refused to accept the results of Saturday’s elections, alleging widespread ballot box stuffing, voter intimidation and street violence, and undertaking to boycott parliament.

Zourabichvili, who as president performs a largely ceremonial role in the Georgian political system, also refused to recognise the election result and called on Georgians to protest against the election results, leading thousands of opposition supporters to take to the streets of the capital Tbilisi on Monday evening.

A joint report published on Sunday by European election observers, including the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said that while the election offered voters “a wide choice” of candidates, the voting was “marred by an uneven playing field, pressure and tension”.

Following the vote, Transparency International Georgia executive director Eka Giguari described the election as unfair, saying there had been “too many issues” and that the results were “definitely not legitimate”.