TBILISI, October 29. /TASS/. Georgia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has asked the prosecutor general’s office to probe into alleged ballot rigging at the recent parliamentary elections.

"A comprehensive and unbiased probe is needed to find out whether statements by the Georgian president, politicians and other individuals, as well as reports about ballot rigging are true or not. Such a probe is beyond the purview of the electoral administration. So, we ask the Georgian prosecutor’s office to look into these claims," the Central Electoral Commission said.

It lamented that after announcing the results of the October 26 parliamentary elections it became "a target of ungrounded criticism." Despite the fact that observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) assessed the voting positively and the audit by a US company revealed no violations, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and some opposition politicians "are criticizing the CEC and are seeking to do damage to its reputation," it said.

Georgia held its parliamentary election on Saturday, with 18 parties involved, including the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party, which has been in power for 12 years. Electronic ballot boxes were used during these elections for the first time. According to the latest data from the country’s Central Electoral Commission, the ruling party secured 53.9% of the vote, allowing the Georgian Dream to form a government independently. Additionally, the Coalition for Change (10.92%), the Unity - National Movement (10.12%), the Strong Georgia coalition (8.78%), and the Gakharia For Georgia party (7.76%) have also won seats in parliament, while other parties failed to surpass the five-percent election threshold.

President Zourabichvili and all the opposition parties refuse to recognize the election results, slamming them as rigged.