Sawt Falasteen - Georgia president refuses prosecutors' summons after alleging vote-rigging

Georgian prosecutors said they had launched an investigation and summoned President Salome Zurabishvili for questioning over her claims of fraud in the election, in which she alleged Russian interference.

She said the summons was politically motivated on the part of a judiciary that the pro-Western opposition says is controlled by the ruling party and under the Kremlin's influence.

Georgia was plunged into political uncertainty after Saturday's election as the opposition said the vote was "stolen" by the ruling Georgian Dream party and refused to recognise its results.

Several EU countries criticised "irregularities" in the vote and US President Joe Biden voiced alarm at what he called democratic "backsliding" in the Caucasus country.

Zurabishvili -- the country's head of state, at loggerheads with the governing party -- has declared the election results "illegitimate", alleging election interference by a "Russian special operation".

State prosecutors said in a statement that they had "launched an investigation into the alleged falsification of the parliamentary elections".

They said Zurabishvili "is believed to possess evidence regarding possible falsification" and has been summoned for an interview Thursday.

"I have no intention of going to the prosecutor's office," Zurabishvili later told a news conference.

She said 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 demands fresh vote -

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze thanked prosecutors for launching the investigation, while insisting the elections were "entirely fair, free, competitive and clean".

Opposition parties said they did not trust the judiciary, controlled by Georgian Dream's government, to investigate the violations.

"The idea that the Russian-controlled prosecutor's office will investigate a Russian special operation conducted during these elections is absurd," the Strong Georgia opposition alliance said in a statement.

Opposition parties have said they will not enter the new "illegitimate" parliament and demanded "fresh" elections run by an "international election administration".

Tens of thousands rallied in Tbilisi on Monday to protest the announced result.

Tbilisi has been rocked by protests this year over several repressive laws passed by Georgian Dream, with opponents accusing the party of steering the Caucasus country towards the Kremlin.

Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country has fought a Russian invasion for more than two years, weighed in Wednesday, saying Tbilisi -- which fought a 2008 war with Moscow -- was increasingly influenced by Russia.

"As of today, Russia won in Georgia. (Russia) took their freedom away," Zelensky said at a press conference.

He said Tbilisi now had a "pro-Russian government".

Georgian Dream has insisted it is still committed to joining the EU, but its billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili has blamed the West for the war in Ukraine.

- Georgian Dream hopes for 'reset' -

Georgia's central election commission has said it is conducting a partial recount of ballots at some 14 percent of polling stations.

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

Biden said Tuesday that the vote had been marred by "voter intimidation and coercion".

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

In an interview with AFP on Monday, Zurabishvili claimed that "quite sophisticated" fraudulent schemes were used in the vote.

Georgian Dream's critics 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.

Georgia's increasingly conservative leadership has rejected claims it is taking the country away from its EU membership goal, which is enshrined in the constitution.

Kobakhidze insisted that joining the EU was his government's "top priority" and that he expected a "reset" with the bloc in the coming months.

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

O.Salim--SF-PST