The coalition observation mission of Georgian civil organizations – “My Vote” is observing the elections of the Parliament of Georgia on October 26 in all electoral districts throughout Georgia. The mission unites about 2000 people, among them, 150 citizens are involved in observing election stations opened abroad. The observers of the coalition observe the election process throughout Georgia in all electoral districts as well as in the CEC. 133 mobile groups are working in 73 electoral districts. During the day, observers regularly provide us with information about the process at the polling stations on election day, as well as about specific violations and incidents.
Key Findings
The election day took place in the context of serious and substantial violations. At the end of the day, it became clear that the various problems identified during the monitoring of the election process during the day were part of a larger scheme, the purpose of which was to subvert the final result of the election. It became clear that a complex scheme of election fraud had been developed, for the implementation of which such methods were used as disruption of the verification system, violation of marking procedures and obstruction of observers from observing voter identification procedures. In the first half of the day, two or more ballots were given to voters en masse. Also, there were cases when ballots were already selected in favor of the ruling party.
It became obvious that in the pre-election period, numerous reports and media reports about the confiscation and “renting” of ID cards, as well as the collection of personal data, served the purpose of implementation of the mentioned scheme. Due to such manipulations it became possible to obtain a decisive number of votes in favor of the ruling party, which we can see now in the results of counting electronic machine checks published on the CEC website.
During the day, unprecedented pressure was exerted on the representatives of the monitoring organizations. There were physical attacks, verbal abuse, intimidation, expulsion from the electoral precincts without reason. In most cases, it was impossible to observe the voting process. In some cases, it was even necessary to evacuate the observers. There were cases when the police were also involved in the process of expelling the observer. Consequently, the created environment made normal observation of the election process impossible.
Journalists also became victims of violent attacks. Obstructing the journalists at the polling stations while they were undertaking their professional duties served the purpose to prevent fraud schemes from being detected during the election process and the public not to have information about these facts.
On the day of voting, there was a concentration of unauthorized persons in the polling stations and their surrounding areas, who were particularly aggressive towards both voters and observers. As always, this time too, in order to pressure and intimidate the voters, the ruling party used criminal groups.
During the day, neither the election administration nor the law enforcement bodies reacted to the gross facts of the violation of the law. There was a clear impression that the persons involved in rigging the elections had guarantees that no one would raise the question of their responsibility, even though they committed crimes.
The ruling party carried out an unprecedented mobilization of voters by means of vehicles. Unprecedented pressure was exerted on voters. Taking into account that during the pre-election period, voters’ personal information was collected, including their social and family status, a large number of voters were literally hostages of the ruling party.
Moreover, the polling process was deliberately collapsed due to the lack of sufficient space and the lack of registrars at the polling stations outside Georgia. Voters had to stand in line for hours. Many of them did not even manage to vote, which means depriving our fellow citizens living abroad of their right to vote.
As of 22:30, we received the following information from the observers:
● 347 notifications about the facts of non-implementation of marking and voting without marking;
● about violation of voting secrecy – 89 notifications;
● 341 cases of presence of unauthorized persons in the area were recorded;
● physical confrontation/threat/violence – 96 cases;
● 163 cases of restriction of the observation rights of “My Vote” observers.
The coalition has identified election districts where substantial violations in the voting process had a systematic character, which could have a significant impact on the free expression of the voter’s will. These districts are: Marneuli, Bolnisi, Kareli, Gori, Kaspi, Khashuri, Senaki, Gardabani, Gurjaani, Sighnaghi, Dedoflistskaro, Kobuleti, Sagarejo, Batumi, Telavi, Zugdidi, Chkhorotsku, Akhaltsikhe, Mtskheta, Akhalkalaki, Rustavi, Gldani, Isni, Samgori , at Kharagauli election districts.
Such violations include:
● Violation of voting secrecy – such facts took place in Kareli, Batumi, Telavi, Khashuri, Bolnisi, Senaki, Gori, Zugdidi, Chkhorotsku, Marneuli, Kobuleti, Sagarejo, Akhaltsikhe, Kaspi, Mtskheta districts;
● Voting instead of someone else and repeatedly – in the election districts of Marneuli, Gardabani, Zugdidi, Kharagauli, Chkhorotsku, Samgori;
● Impossibility of observing the correctness of the verification process and the registrar’s activities – in Gurjaani, Sighnaghi, Rustavi, Gardabani, Samtredia, Chugureti, Sighnaghi, Dedoplistskaro, Isani, Senaki election districts;
● Handing out more than one ballot per voter and/or placing it in a box – in Gurjaani, Dedoplistskaro, Telavi, Rustavi, Batumi, Senaki, Lagodekhi, Tbilisi, Batumi, Khelvachauri, Kobuleti, Mestia, Akhaltsikhe, Aspindza, Gori, Kareli, Khashuri election districts;
● Physical violence – in Marneuli, Gldani, Isni, Marneuli and Zugdidi electoral districts;
● Control of the manifestation of voters’ will – in Kharagauli, Chiatura, Akhalkalaki, Khashuri, Mtskheta, Kaspi, Kareli, Khashuri, Gori districts;
● Damage to mobile ballot boxes and ballots – in Vake, Saburtalo, Samgori, Ozurgeti, Rustavi, Khashuri electoral districts;
● Non-implementation of marking procedures – in Gldani, Isani, Samgori, Marneuli, Kaspi, Gori, Zugdidi, Marneuli, Batumi, Mtskheta districts;
● Agitation by the members of the commission – in the electoral districts of Gori, Marneuli, Bolnisi, Kutaisi;
● Disrupting the activities of observers and expelling them – in the election districts of Marneuli, Senaki, Gardabani, Kobuleti, Sagarejo;
● Stuffing of ballots in the box – In Marneuli electoral district.
For now, 244 complaints have been filed and 183 notes have been made in the record book regarding the violations observed at the polling precincts.
Based on the above, as a result of the analysis of the environment in the pre-election period and the fraud schemes used on the election day, as well as the unprecedented impact on the will of the voters and the facts of violence, we believe that the preliminary results published by the Central Election Commission do not reflect the will of the citizens of Georgia.
