2 charged with ‘electoral fraud’ by Georgian prosecutor’s office

Published October 31,2024

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The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia mentioned Thursday it charged two people with “electoral fraud,” a day after an investigation was launched into the outcomes of final weekend’s parliamentary elections.

An announcement mentioned the investigation carried out by the Interior Ministry established that the 2 defendants put solid ballots in a poll field within the metropolis of Marneuli throughout voting Saturday.

The two did so “in order to falsify the elections,” inflicting the “termination of the voting process and declaration of the election results as void,” it mentioned.

Law enforcement arrested the 2 people based mostly on a courtroom warrant issued earlier within the day, they usually might resist two years in jail, in line with the assertion.

“The Prosecution Service will file a motion to the court on applying detention as a measure of constraint to the defendants within the time limit laid down by the law,” it added.

The prosecutor’s workplace mentioned earlier within the day that it’s investigating 47 felony instances of alleged offenses dedicated through the pre-election interval and on the day of the election along with the Interior Ministry and the Special Investigative Service.

“In particular, the investigated offenses are classified as electoral fraud, influencing the voters’ will, violation of the secrecy of the vote, vote-buying, interference with journalist activities, violence or threat of violence on the election commission premises or during pre-election agitation, and damage and destruction of property,” it mentioned.

The assertion comes someday after the prosecutor’s workplace declared it initiated an investigation into “falsification” of the outcomes of Saturday’s parliamentary election, which the ruling get together received however the opposition mentioned was rigged.

The ruling Georgian Dream get together received about 54% of the vote, in line with the nation’s electoral authority, with its closest opponents, the Coalition for Change and Unity-National Movement, receiving 11% and 10.1%, respectively.

Georgian Dream officers, together with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and the get together’s honorary chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili, have welcomed the outcomes.

But President Salome Zourabichvili mentioned she didn’t acknowledge the outcomes, claiming Georgians have been witnesses to a “Russian special operation.” Opposition events have labeled the election “stolen.”