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:
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:
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.
The victory of the Georgian Dream ruling party with 53.93% has turned out to be acceptable and promising for the de facto government of Abkhazia.
The second edition of the “Candidacy Check” 2024 provides a detailed description of the expectations regarding the steps to be taken in the nine directions defined by the EU.
Based on the study and analysis of hundreds of messages received from observers about election violations, we would like to present information about the election fraud scheme.