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.
We present the results of the observation based on the information received from our observers regarding the voting process from 15:00 to 17:00.
Key Findings
Elections are taking place against the background of violent pressure in a number of constituencies. "My Vote" coalition made a decision to evacuate the observers from the separate election precinct of Marneuli due to the facts of frequent physical retribution against the observers and the real risks to their physical safety.
Until now, the elections in Marneuli are taking place in an environment of violent pressure. Violent groups are mobilized both inside and outside the precincts, threatening our observers and restricting their movement. Cases of violence were also recorded in Tbilisi election districts as well. In the first precinct of the fifth district of Tbilisi, our observer was physically assaulted.
In Marneuli and Gardabani, the facts of voting with one's own passport, but with someone else's personal number, are recorded. These facts are carried out with the involvement of the members of the commission and most likely is related to the facts of massive confiscation of ID cards before the elections, explains its goals and represents a criminal scheme of falsifying the elections.
In Marneuli, there are still many cases of non-implementation of marking and cases of voting more than once.
At polling stations opened abroad, especially in Europe and the USA, voters stand in queues for many hours. The situation is particularly alarming in Spain, where the commission is unable to conduct voter registration due to high turnout and voters are unable to vote. The problem is created by the insufficient number of registrars at the mentioned polling stations, which, taking into account the high turnout of voters, cannot ensure their timely participation in the elections. There are cases when the persons in the consular registration and electoral list of the CEC were not in the lists of the election precincts opened abroad.
By 18:00 we had received information from 1222 districts. According to the information provided our observers in the period from 15:00 to 17:00:
● Marking was not checked properly - in 50 areas;
● The marking rule was violated/voted without marking - in 32 precincts;
● Secrecy of voting was violated - in 22 precincts;
● Unauthorized persons were present in - 98 precincts;
● Cases of physical confrontation/threat/violence were recorded in 31 precincts;
● At the polling stations under our observation, where voting is conducted using electronic technologies, issues related to electronic technologies were detected in 62 precincts. Moreover, electronic procedures at 62 polling stations were not clear and understandable for voters, due to which the voting process was delayed;
● "My Vote" observers were limited to 32 precincts.
At the moment, 211 complaints have been filed in precinct commissions, 43 - in district commissions, and 154 notes have been recorded in the record books regarding the violations observed at the polling stations.
Remarkable incidents:
● Physical violence/threats/pressure
In the first precinct of Tbilisi's fifth district, our observer was physically assaulted. The incident was referred to 112.
In the 4th district of Marneuli, the observer of GYLA was restricted from observation, was verbally abused, and in the 16th district of Marneuli, an unauthorized person is present in the precinct, who is aggressive towards our coalition observer.
In Zugdidi, in the 30th precinct of the 67th district, a physical altercation took place.
● Illegal restriction of observer/representative/media rights
At the 35th precinct of Sagarejo, our observer is not being given the opportunity to make a note in the record book. A similar case was observed in the 49th district of Kobuleti.
Our observers were expelled from the 49th district of Marneuli. The observer took note of a number of violations, including other personal numbers placed in the IDs of the persons present. Also, more than one representative of the same monitoring organization ("Politics and Law Observer") was present at the precinct, interfering with the commission's activities and influencing the voting process.
Our observer who objected to the action of the agitator was expelled from the 50th district of Marneuli. The agitator organized the introduction of the villagers to the area and dictated what choices they should make.
● Voting with improper documentation
At the 3rd polling precinct of Gardabani, a case of voting with someone else's identity card was reported. The commission did not respond to the observer's remark and we were not given the opportunity to verify the identity card.
In the 5th precinct of Marneuli, a person voted with someone else's ID card.
● Illegal restriction of voter's right to vote
In Batumi, 7 people were not allowed to vote in the 71st precinct of the 79th district, on the grounds that they had received their identity cards after October 8. It was explained that ID cards taken after that date were not valid.
● Ballot stuffing/forgery
In the 14th district of Marneuli, the registrar handed out a ballot to the voter, on which the number 41 was circled.
● Problems related with the mobile ballot box
Throughout Georgia, there are problems with the mobile ballot box. In particular, the mobile ballot box arrives back at the precinct being damaged or unsealed, and in some cases - with fewer ballots than it should have arrived. This trend continues in all regions.
In particular, the ballots in the mobile ballot box of the 6th precinct of the 3rd district of Tbilisi were lost. Also, in the 81st, 72nd, 60th, 10th precincts of the 3rd district of Tbilisi and in the 3rd precinct of the 5th district of Tbilisi and in the 3rd precinct of the 2nd district of Tbilisi, a violation of the rules of sealing the mobile ballot box was observed.
In Guria, there were 30 voters in the list of voters in the 35th precinct of the 60th districts.Therefore, 30 ballots were sent from the precinct, although the box was returned to the precinct with 18 votes and 10 unused ballots. There were no spoiled ballots. A complaint was filed. The same trend was observed in Imereti, in the 64th precint of the 59th district.
The mobile ballot box was moved twice in the 12th precinct of Rustavi.
The mobile ballot box was returned to the 23rd precinct of the 35th district of Khashuri unsealed.
● Failure to check marking
More than five cases of non-implementation of marking were recorded in the 1st precinct of Marneuli.
Up to 30 violations of the marking rule were observed in different areas of Tbilisi's Vake, Isani and Gldani districts.
A marked voter cast his vote in the 33rd precinct of the 79th district in Batumi.
In the 29th precinct of the 27th district of Mtskheta, the marking fluid becomes translucent over time and the flashlight can no longer detect the marking.
At the 7th precinct of 27th district of Mtskheta, the representative of "Georgian Dream", who was probably to be the district governor, was expelled from the precinct by the chairman of the commission due to voter controlling behavior. Despite being kicked out, the mentioned person returned to vote. Without checking the marking, the registrar marked the person and handed over the ballot. After that, the mentioned person left the area.
● Violation of voting secrecy/violation of campaign rules
Voting secrecy was violated in the 8th precinct in Kobuleti. Commission members usually place the ballot in the vote counting machines themselves. Also, the fact of three voters entering the booth together and voting was recorded.
In the 25th precinct of Akhaltsikhe (37th district), the chairman of the commission indicated the election number of "Georgian Dream" to the voter.
In the 31st precinct of Sagarejo, the local trustee (the so-called district governor, the representative of the mayor in the territorial unit) follows the voters, who show him the choice they made. There are signs of pressure.
Meanwhile, in the 24th precinct of Kaspi district, voters take photos of the ballots.
At the 33rd election precinct of Mtskheta, the observer found unclear voter lists marked with "+" signs.
● Controlling the expression of voters’ will
The voter census was recorded in the 8th precinct of the 48th district of Kharagauli and the 29th precinct of the 56th district of Chiatura.
Attempts to control the will of voters were also observed in Akhalkalaki, Khashuri, Mtskheta and Kaspi districts, which is manifested in the gathering of persons with uncertain status in the area.
During the voting process at the 19th election precinct of the 33rd district of Kareli, the ballot got stuck in the vote counting machine. The district representative opened the back seal of the box. After removing the damaged ballot, the machine was restored, but when checking the ballots in the boxes, their number exceeded the number of signatures at the registrars by one.
A person entered the 30th district of Khashuri who did not have accreditation or any identity document. He talked to the registrar and asked about specific persons - whether they had come to the polling station or not. As it turned out, this person is the mayor's representative in Tskhramukha.
In precinct 77 of the 32nd district of Gori, the representative of "Georgian Dream" is near the box and makes notes after the voters have placed the ballot in the box, on which he received a notice by the chairman of the commission.
● Agitation at the polling station
A case of agitation by the representatives of "Georgian Dream" was recorded in the 16th precinct of the 59th district of Kutaisi.
● Bribing voters
In Imereti, near the 24th district of the 51st district, possible cases of distributing cash were reported.
● Voting more than once
A person with double verification voted in the 2nd precinct of the 6th district of Samgori.
● Information received from foreign areas
Critically long queues are still observed at polling precincts opened in the USA and Europe. London, Paris, Rome, Athens, Milan, Stuttgart, Berlin, New York, etc. Voters stand in line for hours, and precincts can't keep up with the influx of voters. The number of registrars is insufficient, and the commissions are not able to eliminate the problem. The registrars cannot find the voters on the list in time and because of this some of the voters have to stand in the queue for hours.
A serious problem is faced by the voters coming to the precinct who are on the voter list on the CEC website and are on consular registration, although they were not on the desk list and could not vote. There are about 50 such voters in Milan. Similar cases were reported in Berlin, London, Athens, Barcelona, Rome, Istanbul, Vienna and Washington. One of the reasons for the long queues is the inability to find voters in the voter list, observers report.
Errors related to voter lists were fixed. In particular, 6 cases were recorded in Stuttgart, when a voter was registered in the consular register in Stuttgart, but appeared on the electoral list in Warsaw, which is why they were not allowed the opportunity to participate in the elections. Due to this, there is a kind of anxiety and misunderstanding among the voters standing in the queue.
A flashlight broke several times in the Milan precinct. Before his replacement, about 10 voters were allowed into the precinct without checking their markings.
Observers of the observation mission "My Vote" will provide us with photos of the summary report throughout the night, which will be published step by step and will be publicly available on the website Wevote.ge. On the same website, photos of the preliminary results of the voting sent by our observers (consolidated final report) from the polling stations where the elections are held using electronic technologies will be available. The publication of the extract of the preliminary results and the photos of the summary reports on the "My Vote" website allows any citizen to verify the correspondence of the data officially recorded by the CEC with the official documents obtained by the observers at the precincts.