Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili rejected a request from prosecutors to answer questions about her allegations that the ruling party rigged Saturday’s parliamentary elections, as the United States said it was “deeply alarmed” by threats to democracy in the Black Sea state and Brussels warned that its current course “jeopardises its EU path”.
Opposition parties that took a combined 38 per cent in the election say it was “stolen” by the governing Georgian Dream party, which won 54 per cent, according to the central election commission (CEC).
The CEC has announced a partial recount of votes but the opposition and Ms Zourabichvili say the commission is a tool of the government; they want an independent inquiry and a full rerun of the election under international oversight.
After the CEC complained that it was facing “unsubstantiated attacks” and “baseless accusations” from Ms Zourabichvili and others, the prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into the matter and summoned the president to answer questions on Thursday relating to any evidence she may have of vote-rigging.
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Immediately after the election Ms Zourabichvili called it a “blatant fraud” and a “Russian special operation”. Later she said she meant that “the methodology used and the support of most probably Russian FSB (security service) types is shown in this election”.
Opposition leaders backed Ms Zourabichvili, and claimed that the prosecutor’s office, like the CEC, is controlled by Georgian Dream, which has ruled since 2012.
“I’ve never encountered a situation where an investigative authority asks a president for election-related evidence,” Ms Zourabichvili said on Wednesday evening. “The public expects you to conduct an immediate investigation, not to demand evidence from me.”
Georgian Dream says it wants the country to join the EU, but its actions and rhetoric have opened a rift with Brussels that has widened since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Tbilisi refuses to join western sanctions on Moscow, and claims a shadowy “global party of war” is trying to drag it into conflict with the Kremlin.
The EU gave official candidate status to Georgia last year but suspended the process this summer after its government restricted LGBT+ rights and tightened control over civil society groups with laws that critics say resemble those of autocratic Russia.
In a progress report on enlargement the European Commission said on Wednesday that it would not be able to recommend the start of accession talks for Georgia unless it altered “the current course of action which jeopardises its EU path”.
US president Joe Biden said he was “deeply alarmed by the country’s recent democratic backsliding”, and urged the government to “transparently investigate all election irregularities” and repeal laws “that limit freedoms of assembly and expression”.
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