ISFED: our observers were allowed in, faced no restrictions at almost all polling stations

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), one of the leading NGOs in Georgia, says that its observers have been allowed in and faced no restrictions to monitor the election process at almost all polling stations in today’s by-elections in Tbilisi and the regions.  

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Almost all the polling stations opened and the voting process was carried out without any major violations,” the head of the NGO Mikheil Benidze said.

He mentioned various procedural violations at several polling stations and the restriction of observers’ rights at several polling stations in Zugdidi and Marneuli.

Most of the procedural violations were recorded at polling station 68 of Marneuli [in eastern Georgia],” Benidze said.

He stated that the ISFED is observing the elections through the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology, which is an election observation methodology that is typically based on a representative random sample of polling stations and is employed for independent verification (or challenging) of election results.

ISFED has 240 observers and 10 mobile groups to monitor all polling stations in the by-elections.