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 Oct. 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 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 recognize 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".

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.