15 days until elections: What you need to know

Fifteen days remain until the people of Georgia will vote for who they want to lead the country.

This afternoon the Central Election Commission (CEC) released a mid-term report reflecting updated voter figures, new election data and introduced new services that would make the election process easier for voters.

Georgia’s Parliamentary Elections will take place on October 8, 2016.

Head of the CEC Tamar Zhvania presented the report, which covered the June 8-September 8 pre-election period. She said: 

• 3,510,514 voters were registered to have their say on October 8. 
• Of these 1,887,130 (53.75 percent) were female and 1,623,384 (46.24 percent) were male.
• 19 political parties and 6 election blocks successfully completed the official registration process. 28 parties were refused registration as they did not meet mandatory regulations stated in Georgia’s Election Code. 
• 74 local and 32 international organisations were registered to observe the elections. 
• 34 media outlets were accredited to broadcast from election locations. The deadline for media accreditation is October 6. 
• 3,634 polling stations will open for 73 majoritarian districts in Georgia. 
• There will be 56 polling stations abroad. Georgia will also open two polling stations in Afghanistan for Georgian peacekeepers; named Bagram and Mazar-i-Sharif polling stations. 

The CEC had recently introduced a number of new tools to make the elections process easier for voters, said Zhvania.

The Georgian public can check whether they are on the voters list by visiting the webpage. This can be accessed by computer, or smartphone.

Head of Georgia's Central Election Commission Tamar Zhvania held a presentation of a mid-term report for the local media. Photo by Georgia's Central Election Commission. 

For the first time in Georgia’s history, the public can also check if they’re on the voter list by inputting their details on one of 7,000 pay boxes nationwide. This service is only available prior to the October 8 election.

Zhvania said in the reporting period (from June 10 to September 8) 947,761 voters used these two services to check whether they were on the voter list.

The CEC had also taken various steps to encourage and support maximum involvement of people with disabilities in the election and voting process.  

The CEC webpage is the first in Georgia that’s been completely adapted for the country’s blind community,” she said. 

We have also increased the number of adapted polling stations to encourage the involvement of people with disabilities and ethnic minorities in the elections.”

The CEC official said for the first time the agency approved a Gender Equality Political Document, which ensured equal involvement of female and males in administrative roles during the election process. 

The CEC head also announced about the live broadcasting of vote-counting process from the Commission’s headquarters, which  will also take place for the first time.  

Finally, Zhvania said the CEC had signed deals with local observing organisations and Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs to ensure a free, fair and transparent election environment.