However, the prime minister insisted that out of 3,111 polling stations, there had been incidents in “just a couple of precincts”.
Georgian Dream has become increasingly authoritarian, passing Russian-style laws targeting media and non-government groups who receive foreign funding and the LGBT community. The European Union has responded by freezing Georgia’s bid to join the EU, accusing it of “democratic backsliding”.
However, one EU leader, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, has been especially quick to congratulate the party on its fourth term and is due to travel to Georgia on Monday.
Georgian Dream says it is keen to kick-start talks on reviving its EU bid, however the sight of Orban arriving in Tbilisi two days after a contested election is unlikely to go down well in Brussels.
In an initial statement on Sunday night, the head of the European Council of EU leaders, Charles Michel, said “alleged irregularities must be seriously clarified and addressed”, external and called for a swift, transparent and independent investigation.
“Of course we have to address these irregularities happening on the day of the election or before,” the Georgian prime minister told the BBC. “But the general content of the elections was in line with legal principles and the principle of democratic elections.”
The four opposition groups have refused to recognise the election result, condemning it as falsified, and they have accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of stealing the vote.