By Felix Light and Lucy Papachristou
TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgia’s president called for protests on Monday after the governing Georgian Dream party declared victory in an election marred by reports of voting violations that Western countries said must be investigated.
The results of Saturday’s parliamentary election are a blow for pro-Western Georgians who cast the vote as a choice between a governing party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe.
Georgian Dream clinched nearly 54% of the vote, the election commission said. The four main opposition parties that won seats in parliament said they did not recognise the results, and that they would boycott the chamber.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said they registered incidents of vote-buying, voter intimidation and ballot-stuffing that could have affected the outcome, but stopped short of saying the election was rigged.
President Salome Zourabichvili, a former ally of Georgian Dream who is now its leading critic, urged people to protest in the capital Tbilisi from 7 p.m. (1500 GMT) to show the world “that we do not recognise these elections”.
In an address on Sunday, Zourabichvili, whose powers are mainly ceremonial, called the result as a “Russian special operation”.
Asked on Monday whether those comments constituted a direct accusation that Russia had helped falsify the election, Zourabichvili told Reuters: “No, it’s an accusation that the methodology used and the support of most probably Russian FSB (Federal Security Service) types is shown in this election.”
She said in an interview that what she depicted as a pro-Georgian Dream propaganda campaign before the election was a “direct duplication” of Kremlin campaigns before Russian elections.
Russia denied election interference. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, was unavailable for comment.
“We strongly reject such accusations – as you know, they have become standard for many countries. At the slightest thing, they immediately accuse Russia of interference… There was no interference and the accusations are absolutely unfounded,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Peskov said the election result was “the choice of the Georgian people” and accused the West of trying to destabilise the situation.
‘CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER’ CHALLENGED
Georgia was long one of the most pro-Western countries to emerge from the Soviet Union, with polls showing many Georgians disliking Russia for its support of two breakaway Georgian regions. Russia defeated Georgia in a brief war over the rebel province of South Ossetia in 2008.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accused the opposition on Monday of attempting to “shake the constitutional order”, local media reported. He said his government remained committed to European integration.
Zourabichvili said she did not want to destabilise Georgia and that she was sure the protest would be peaceful.
Official results showed Georgian Dream won 54% of the vote, or 1.12 million votes – 335,000 votes more than the combined four main opposition parties, which are deeply divided.
Georgian Dream’s billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, praised Georgian people for their choice. The election commission said the vote was free and fair.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said opposition parties were “absolutely right” to dispute the election results.
NATO backed calls for a full investigation of what it called the “uneven playing field” in Georgia’s election, echoing an appeal by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “respect the rule of law, repeal legislation that undermines fundamental freedoms, and address deficiencies in the electoral process together.”
Shares in London-listed Georgian banks fell on Monday, with TBC Bank down 9.8% and Bank of Georgia down 7.3%, amid concerns of possible political instability.
The European Union urged Georgia to investigate alleged irregularities in the vote, saying “any legislation that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Georgian citizens and runs counter to the values and principles upon which the EU is founded, must be repealed.”
The election result poses a challenge to the EU’s ambition to expand by bringing in more former Soviet states.
Moldova this month narrowly approved adding a clause to the constitution defining EU accession as a goal. Moldovan officials said Russia meddled in the election. Moscow denied this.
(Reporting by Felix Light, Lucy Papachristou, Sabine Siebold and Costas Pitas; Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Angus MacSwan, Gareth Jones and Timothy Heritage)
