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

The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia said Thursday it charged two individuals with "electoral fraud," a day after an investigation was launched into the results of last weekend's parliamentary elections.

A statement said the investigation carried out by the Interior Ministry established that the two defendants put forged ballots in a ballot box in the city of Marneuli during voting Saturday.

The two did so "in order to falsify the elections," causing the "termination of the voting process and declaration of the election results as void," it said.

Law enforcement arrested the two individuals based on a court warrant issued earlier in the day, and they could face up to two years in prison, according to the statement.

"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 office said earlier in the day that it is investigating 47 criminal cases of alleged offenses committed during the pre-election period and on the day of the election together 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 said.

The statement comes one day after the prosecutor's office declared it initiated an investigation into "falsification" of the results of Saturday's parliamentary election, which the ruling party won but the opposition said was rigged.

The ruling Georgian Dream party won about 54% of the vote, according to the country's electoral authority, with its closest competitors, the Coalition for Change and Unity-National Movement, receiving 11% and 10.1%, respectively.

Georgian Dream officials, including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and the party's honorary chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili, have welcomed the results.

But President Salome Zourabichvili said she did not recognize the results, claiming Georgians were witnesses to a "Russian special operation." Opposition parties have labeled the election "stolen."