TBILISI: Georgia's central election commission said it was set to partially recount ballots after opposition parties denounced the weekend parliamentary election as "stolen". Defying the EU's concerns over the vote, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- current holder of the bloc's rotating presidency and the Kremlin's closest EU associate -- arrived in Tbilisi on Monday and hailed the vote as democratic.
Pro-Western opposition parties have refused to recognise the results of Saturday's vote, which they claim was falsified in favour of the ruling Georgian Dream party. Tens of thousands joined a protest rally in Tbilisi on Monday and a fresh anti-government demonstration was announced for Tuesday evening.
Georgia's electoral commission said in a statement that "district election commissions will conduct recounts of ballots from five polling stations randomly selected in each election district," making up about 14 per cent of the vote. President Salome Zurabishvili has declared the election results "illegitimate", alleging election interference by a "Russian special operation", a claim that was rejected by the Kremlin. — AFP
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