Georgian’s living in breakaway regions forbidden to vote
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Hundreds of Georgian’s living in Gali district of occupied Abkhazia are being prevented from voting in Georgia’s 2014 municipal elections.
The boundary separating Georgia with its breakaway regions has been blocked since this morning, preventing Georgian’s from travelling into Georgian-controlled territory and voting in the 2014 municipal elections
About 700 Gali residents were expected to vote at the Tsalenjikha district polling station in Georgia today but were unable to travel to the polling booth as occupant forces prevented them from travelling through the administrative boundary line.
About 1,120 registered voters were expected to cast their vote at the polling station today however officials at the site said voter turnout had been extremely low as Gali residents were prevented from accessing the official election voting station.
Georgia’s State Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Paata Zakareishvili said he was not surprised to learn of this situation.
"Every time Georgia holds elections, there are always some kind of problems in Gali and Akhalgori [a district in another breakaway region],” he said.
Two Georgian regions – Abkazia and Tkinvali (also called South Ossetia) are currently occupied by Russia.
People around the country are being encouraged to take part in the 2014 municipal elections in Georgia today. Voting booths opened at 8am across the country and will remain open until 8pm tonight.
Voting got off to a rocky start in western Georgia after voters vandalized a polling station in Samegrelo overnight. Voting has come to a temporary halt after armed, masked offenders stole voting bulletins from the N16 station in Doshake village late last night, said Central Election Commission (CEC) speaker Eka Azarashvili.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili is voting for "the future, progress, development and stability of Georgia”. The Georgian leader went to N11 polling station in Vake district, Tbilisi with his family this morning.
The President of Georgia has had his say in the 2014 self-government elections.President Giorgi Margvelashvili was one of the country’s first voters. He made his choice at 8am at Tbilisi’s Mtatsminda N6 district polling station.
The Akhalgori municipality governor which is under Russia’s control since the Russia-Georgia 2008 war says that the de facto leadership of breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) has announced certain restrictions for ethnic Georgian farmers.
The Georgian occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) de facto parliament has created a ‘border delimitation-demarcation commission’ and is now saying that it is "unjust” that the village Tsnelisi is not "within the border of the South Ossetian republic.”Both the commission and the statement on the village have been assessed as provocative and as a violation of all international law by Tbilisi.
The Russia-controlled border guards have abducted a 28-year-old Georgian citizen Paata Arakelov in the village of Akhrisi, Gori municipality, near the occupation line with the country’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, the Radio Liberty says.
Russia-controlled border guards and the leadership of Georgian eastern occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region are erecting barbed wire fences at the village of Balta, in the Kareli district of Georgia.