Georgian PM urges President, opposition to “present evidence” of “electoral fraud”, claims “no such evidence exists”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday called on President Salome Zourabichvili and opposition parties to substantiate their allegations of “electoral fraud” in last week’s general elections by presenting evidence to the Prosecutor General's Office, asserting “no such evidence exists”.

In comments to the press, the PM referred to the President’s “verbal allegations”, noting, “if anyone has any evidence, they should submit it to the Prosecutor General's Office”, following the latter’s announcement on Wednesday of an investigation into alleged electoral violations, prompted by an appeal by the Central Election Commission against the claims.

Everyone is avoiding presenting evidence because such evidence simply does not exist in nature”, Kobakhidze claimed, suggesting the President would not be expected to appear at the Office due to the alleged lack of proof.

Citing findings by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which last week assessed the elections as “largely peaceful with an adequate legal framework”, the PM accused the President of “grossly violating election principles by engaging in partisan activities”.

The official further argued the conduct “contravened” the Constitutional requirement for the President to remain non-partisan.

Kobakhidze also criticised the opposition for what he termed “misinformation” over their electoral prospects, claiming they had “misled the public, including their own voters”, by suggesting they had won the elections following the release of exit polls on Saturday.

He also addressed calls for street protests by Nika Gvaramia, the leader of the Coalition for Change opposition group, claiming the opposition “lacks credible evidence” to support their claims of electoral irregularities and enjoyed “no public backing”.