Georgia's president says election 'has been stolen'

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili told DW on Monday that the country's election had been fraudulent and effectively stolen, calling on Georgians to take to the streets to reject the results.

The nation's Central Electoral Commission said on Sunday that the ruling party Georgian Dream won Saturday's parliamentary election with more than 54% of the vote, a result that would represent a setback to pro-EU forces in the post-Soviet country.

The Georgian Dream party is seen as tending more toward Russia than the West, although they also claim to be interested in joining the EU.

Pro-Western opposition parties have rejected the preliminary result and announced protests.

Zourabichvili: 'Georgian people on the streets will confirm' election was stolen

President Salome Zourabichvili told DW that she rejected the official results based on multiple reports of fraud. 

"So this is an election that has been stolen, and I think that the Georgian people on the streets will confirm this judgment."

Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have said there was evidence of "democratic backsliding" in Georgia.

Its monitoring mission said it had noted cases of voter intimidation, vote buying and double voting, particularly in rural areas, and said the elections were marred by media polarization and hate speech directed both at the opposition and at civil society. However, the OSCE observers stopped short of saying the election was rigged.

Zourabichvili opposes coalition with Georgian Dream

The Georgian president ruled out the possibility of pro-European forces working with Georgian Dream.

"I think, first of all, there is no intention of the Georgian Dream to form a coalition with anyone," Zourabichvili said.

"They have a majority. They had hoped for the constitutional majority, and I think that explains the extent of the violations that they were aiming at having 60% to carry on their program, which is to first impeach the president, then put the opposition forces in jail and judge some of the opposition parties."

Zourabichvili accused Georgian Dream of having chosen the path of dictatorship instead of democracy.

Demonstrations expected

Georgia's pro-European coalition has called for people to take to the streets on Monday evening to reject the election results.

President Zourabichvili said Georgia's future was at stake.

"I think that it's the Georgian people that have to support this judgement because they are the ones that have seen their votes being stolen," she said.

"They are the ones that are driven by force into a regime that will be more like Russia rather than like a European democratic country," she added.

Calls for renewed elections

Zourabichvili said political parties in Georgia will seek new elections with Europe's support "so that we are sure that they are transparent and fair."

Additionally, she called for Europe to hold the Georgian Dream ruling party accountable for the commitments it should be fulfilling.

"I think Brussels has to be very clear ... about what it was asking from this government to deliver: the recommendations that were made by the European Commission, the rejection of all the Russian laws and to hold free and fair elections," Zourabichvili said.

"I think the government has not delivered on any of these."

Edited by: Darko Janjevic