Georgian President talks of Russian interference in elections

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said had no evidence of any Russian interference in the recent parliamentary elections , but considered the country's ruling party's ties to Moscow "obvious," News.Az reports citing Izvestia.

"We don't have any precise evidence, but the obvious links that the ruling party maintains with Moscow have been confirmed by numerous reports," she said in an interview, the recording of which was published on the agency's YouTube channel on October 28.

Zurabishvili expressed the opinion that she should not provide any evidence of vote rigging. According to the Georgian president, local observers have provided enough information on this matter, while international observers do not always react to violations in a timely manner.

She added that if the new Georgian parliament decides to hold a session regardless of her disagreement with the election results, then the country's citizens will go out to protest that same day.

Zurabishvili also suggested that opposition parties may demand an investigation into reports of violations and a new round of voting with the support of Tbilisi's European partners.

Voting in the parliamentary elections in Georgia took place on October 26. According to the Central Election Commission, the ruling Georgian Dream party won with more than 50% of the vote. Three opposition parties - the United National Movement, the Coalition for Changes and Strong Georgia - did not recognize the election results. One of the leaders of the Coalition, Elene Khoshtaria, announced the start of protests on October 27.

Zurabishvili also expressed her disagreement with the election results, calling the voting results a total falsification. As reported by the Izvestia correspondent, several people with Ukrainian and European flags came out to the building of the Georgian parliament at the same time.

On October 28, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the elections in Georgia an internal matter of the country, in which the Russian side does not interfere. He pointed out that the Russian Federation resolutely rejects any unfounded accusations on this matter, which have already become standard for many countries.

News.Az