Georgian president and prosecutor at odds over election fraud probe

Record ID: 1852819

  • Title: Georgian president and prosecutor at odds over election fraud probe
  • Date: 30th October 2024
  • Summary: TBILISI, GEORGIA (OCTOBER 30, 2024) (REUTERS) GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SALOME ZOURABICHVILI ENTERING ROOM, SHOWING ON SCREEN THAT DEMONSTRATES WHAT IS ALLEGED TO BE VOTING VIOLATIONS DURING PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION SCREEN SHOWING WHAT IS ALLEGED TO BE VOTING VIOLATIONS DURING PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION SALOME LOOKING SCREEN SHOWING WHAT IS ALLEGED TO BE VOTING VIOLATIONS DURING PARLIA
  • Embargoed: 13th November 2024 16:07
  • Keywords: Election Georgia President Zourabichvili
  • Location: TBILISI, GEORGIA
  • City: TBILISI, GEORGIA
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: Europe,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA001584530102024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: State prosecutors in Georgia said on Wednesday (October 30) they had launched an investigation into opposition allegations that last weekend's parliamentary election was rigged, and summoned President Salome Zourabichvili to testify.
    But Zourabichvili, who has alleged repeatedly that the vote count was falsified to give victory to her opponents in the ruling Georgian Dream party, said it was not her job to supply the evidence.
    "It's not up to the president to provide proof of election fraud," she told reporters. "Observers and everyday citizens have shown proofs of how massive the rigging of elections was."
    Zourabichvili and other government critics have cast the vote as a pivotal moment for Georgia, a country which has ambitions to join the European Union but which the West sees as drifting back into Russia's orbit under the leadership of Georgian Dream.
    The president's apparent refusal to cooperate with the investigation raises legal and constitutional questions in a country with a volatile post-Soviet history including war, revolution and street protests.
    Huge crowds demonstrated earlier this year against a "foreign agent" law that Georgian Dream pushed through parliament, and thousands took part in a rally to protest against the weekend election result.
    "I just want to say that my answer to the prosecutor’s request that I present proofs to sustain my declarations on the results of the elections is not relevant because the prosecutor should be doing its own investigation," Zourabichvili said. "That’s what the prosecutor’s office is there for."
    Election observers, including the 57-nation Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) 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.
    Official results gave Georgian Dream 54% of the vote and a clear majority in parliament. Opposition politicians have said they will boycott the chamber in protest.
    Georgian Dream says it does want the South Caucasus country to one day join the EU but wants to stop it being dragged into another conflict with Moscow, which won a short war against it in 2008.
    Zourabichvili told Reuters on Monday that Georgian Dream had used a Russian "methodology" to falsify the election result, citing two exit polls which had pointed to an opposition victory.
    The Kremlin has denied interference allegations and accused the West of trying to unduly influence the outcome of the vote.
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