Georgia's new parliament convenes after contested vote

TBILISI — Georgia's new parliament convened for its first session on Monday amid protests over an election the opposition says was rigged and after the pro-European president demanded the result be annulled.

Political turmoil has rocked the Black Sea nation since the October 26 vote, won by the governing Georgian Dream Party.

Pro-Western opposition parties have contested the results and are refusing to enter the new parliament, which they deem "illegitimate".

Pro-European President Salome Zurabishvili -- at loggerheads with the governing party -- has filed a lawsuit with the constitutional court seeking to annul the result.

Zurabishvili, the nation's figurehead leader, has accused Russia of interference in the vote, a claim Moscow has denied, and refused to issue a presidential decree to convene the legislature.

Georgian Dream, which secured 89 seats in the 150-member chamber, says the vote was free and fair.

Ruling Party lawmakers gathered at mid-day (8:00 GMT) for an inaugural session that was boycotted by the opposition.

Zurabishvili declared the plenary "unconstitutional," saying "massive electoral fraud has undermined its legitimacy".

"I refused to call the first session and the Constitution does not recognise anyone to act as substitute," she said on Facebook.

A leading constitutional law expert, Vakhushti Menabde, has said the "new parliament cannot convene until the constitutional court delivers its ruling on Zurabishvili's lawsuit".

Amid heavy police presence, demonstrators began gathering outside the parliament building on Sunday night following a call for protests by the opposition.

Hundreds of protesters have set up camps, blocking traffic along Tbilisi's main thoroughfare.

The opposition says the Georgian Dream government is skewing foreign policy towards Russia and undermining its longstanding bid to join the European Union, an accusation the party denies.

Since the vote, tens of thousands have taken to the streets in Tbilisi to protest alleged electoral fraud.

The European Union and the United States have called for a probe into "irregularities" during the vote.

Presidential vote looms 

On Friday, current parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili said MPs in the new parliament are expected to vote for current Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to continue as the head of government.

The right to nominate a prime minister is held by Georgian Dream's billionaire founder and "honorary chairman" Bidzina Ivanishvili, widely regarded as pulling the strings of power without any official government position.

Kobakhidze announced on Monday that only a few ministers would be replaced in his cabinet and -- in a clear signal to Brussels -- nominated Maka Bochorishvili, the former chair of parliament's EU integration committee, for the post of foreign minister.

MPs will also set the date for an indirect presidential election, expected by the end of the year -- with Zurabishvili set to lose office.

As a result of constitutional reform adopted in 2017, the next president will -- for the first time in the country's history -- be elected by an electoral college consisting of lawmakers and local officials rather than in a direct popular vote.

'Fight for EU values' 

After the parliamentary vote, a group of Georgia's leading election monitors said they had uncovered evidence of a complex scheme of large-scale electoral fraud that swayed results in favour of Georgian Dream.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said last week the bloc "will send a mission to Georgia... and the election will have to be investigated".

"To the Georgian people... the EU will never abandon you and your fight for EU values," he said in a statement after a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.

Ahead of the elections, Brussels had warned Tbilisi that the conduct of the vote would be decisive for its prospects of joining the bloc.

Georgian Dream has denied the fraud allegations and says EU membership remains "the top priority" of its government.