The Fort Worth Press - Georgia says ruling party won disputed election, opposition calls protests

The opposition said Saturday's parliamentary vote was "stolen" by the ruling Georgian Dream party and refused to recognise the results, plunging the Caucasus country into uncertainty.

Pro-European President Salome Zurabishvili -- at loggerheads with the governing party -- has declared the election results "illegitimate", alleging there was a "Russian special operation" to undermine the vote.

The Kremlin has denied interference.

At a joint press conference on Thursday, opposition parties said they had collected "serious evidence of large-scale fraud", renewing calls for fresh elections and an "international investigation into widespread electoral violations."

They said the opposition's "detailed action plan" would be unveiled at a protest rally on Monday.

"A constitutional coup has taken place in our country, and it's our shared duty to take to the streets and reclaim control over the country's future," Elene Khoshtaria of the opposition Coalition for Change told journalists.

Tens of thousands took to the streets last Monday to protest against alleged fraud.

The central election commission told AFP that a recount at some 12 percent of polling stations, involving 14 percent of the vote, "didn't lead to a significant change to previously announced official results".

"Final tallies only slightly changed at some nine percent of recounted polling stations," a spokeswoman said.

- 'Illegitimate' parliament -

International observers, the European Union and the United States have criticised electoral irregularities and demanded a full investigation.

Georgia's interior ministry said two people were arrested after alleged ballot-stuffing at a provincial polling station, while prosecutors said they had opened 47 criminal cases over alleged electoral violations.

On Wednesday, Georgian prosecutors said they had summoned Zurabishvili for questioning, because she "is believed to possess evidence regarding possible falsification".

But the figurehead president refused to comply, saying that plenty of evidence of electoral fraud was already available and prosecutors should focus on their investigation and "stop political score-settling with the president".

Opposition parties have said they will not enter the new "illegitimate" parliament.

- 'Serious violations' -

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, a Georgian NGO, said in a report released Thursday that the results "regardless of the outcome, cannot be seen as truly reflecting the preferences of Georgian voters".

The group said it had documented "serious (electoral) violations", including "intimidation, ballot-stuffing, multiple voting, unprecedented levels of voter bribery (and) expulsion of observers from polling stations."

A group of Georgia's leading election monitors said earlier that they had uncovered evidence of a complex scheme of large-scale electoral fraud that swayed results in favour of the ruling party.

Brussels had warned prior to the elections that it would be a crucial test for EU-candidate Tbilisi's fledgling democracy and determine its chances of joining the bloc.

The European Commission said in a report published Wednesday that it could not recommend opening membership talks "unless Georgia reverts the current course of action which jeopardises its EU path."

Critics of the increasingly conservative Georgian Dream accuse it of derailing efforts to join the EU and of bringing the ex-Soviet country back into the Kremlin's orbit.

The European Union put Tbilisi's accession process on halt after Georgian Dream passed a law this year on "foreign influence" that opponents say mirrors repressive Russian legislation, and which has sparked weeks of mass street protests.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze insisted the elections were "entirely fair, free, competitive and clean" and that EU integration was his government's "top priority".

Near-final election results showed Georgian Dream won 53.9 percent of the vote, compared with 37.7 percent for an opposition coalition.

J.Ayala--TFWP