“My Vote” statement on the results of the observation of the election process at the election precincts created abroad

The observation mission “My Vote” monitored the voting process at the election stations created in other countries at 48 election stations through 158 observers who had undergone proper preparation/training in advance.

In terms of exercising the right to vote for immigrants, the election administration created insurmountable and unjustified barriers for voters at all stages of the election process – during the compilation of lists, during the creation of polling stations and on the Election Day, which restricted the right of thousands of Georgian citizens to participate in the elections.

In the pre-election period, the small number of polling stations, inconsistent with the number of emigrants abroad, and later, on the election day, the improper arrangement of the polling stations violated the constitutional principle of universality of elections. Voters who could not travel unreasonably long distances remained disenfranchised.

On the Election Day, the voting process was conducted in gross violations of the principles of accessibility and universality at the polling stations opened in the USA and several EU states. The election administration did not take into account the number of voters, their expected turnout, and did not provide appropriate infrastructure and human resources at the polling stations, which significantly limited and put at risk the participation of immigrants in the elections. Elections were actually held in these precincts thanks to the efforts of voters and observers.

As a result of the observation, the following serious violations were revealed at the problematic polling stations opened abroad:

• The space provided for the polling stations did not correspond to the number of voters;
• Proper infrastructure was not arranged for voting. The required number of registrar commission members was not allocated, which created queues of many thousands and many hours. In particular, according to observers, only one secret voting booth was provided for 1500 voters and only one registrar commission member for 1000 voters. For comparison, for elections held in the same manner in Georgia, at least 1 registrar commission member were to be provided for every 300 voters, and 1 secret voting booth was to be provided for every 500 voters;
• There was a high risk of violation of vote secrecy due to unsuitable infrastructure for the voting precinct building. According to the observers, in most of the precincts, along with the lack of space in the voting building, the voting booths were of poor quality and unstable, due to which some of the booths were damaged in the process and threatened the violation of secrecy of voting;
•  Chaos and dangerous environment for the health of voters, observers and commission members was created at the polling stations;
• After standing in long queues, citizens entering the precinct could not find their names in the registrar’s desk lists. Some of their names were found in the lists of polling stations opened in the consulate of other countries;
• In some cases, the list of voters posted on the wall did not match the list of registrars’ desks;
• The members of the Precinct Election Commission had not received appropriate training and they could not properly handle the voting procedures;
• Due to the long queues some voters could not vote at all.

The situation was particularly difficult at the polling stations of New York, Madrid, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, ​​Frankfurt, Berlin, Prague, Milan, Athens, London.

In Milan, about 50 citizens who were included in the unified list of voters, despite their active status on consular registration, could not be found in the desk lists of the precinct commission. Consequently, they could not participate in the elections. Similar cases were reported in Berlin, London, Rome, Madrid, Istanbul, Stuttgart and Vienna.

According to observers, local consuls were moving inside the voting building without the right to do so. Such facts were observed at the polling stations created in Tallinn, Barcelona, Frankfurt, ​​Riga, Helsinki, Prague, Brussels.

At the Frankfurt polling station, the deputy chairman of the commission, Zurab Kalandadze, verbally abused observers and voters.

See here for a detailed report on the results of observing the election process at polling stations created abroad: