Ombudsman, local NGOs hail voting mostly calm and transparent
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Georgia’s Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili and several leading NGOs have already released their assessments of the Election Day.
Nanuashvili. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Transparency International Georgia (TI) and the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) mainly spoke about procedural violations.
They stated the level of some serious election violations was low.
Nanuashvili stated the voting process was mostly calm and transparent, but he was concerned by presence of some party supporters at election districts, writing down the names of those appearing to vote.
The ombudsman believed the fact could be an indirect pressure on voters and appealed to the Central Election Commission to take measures against.
The Transparency International Georgia, which also assessed the elections as calm, stated that there were facts when different party observers tried to identify voters through their list numbers.
NGOs say that election commissions need to be better prepared. Photo by N.Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
They [the observers] disturbed those registering voters, tried to understand the list number of certain voters and then compared the list number to the voters’ lists on the wall. They were likely to match the data to identify voters, which could be used to somehow pressure the voters,” the organization said.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy said the elections were without major violations, stating that the most problematic was the Marneuli election district.
The NGO says 98percent of election districts ensured complete conspiracy of the voting process and alleged fact of menace and pressure was mentioned in only one percent of election districts.
The Georgian Young Lawyers Association reported elections were mostly calm and announced they wrote complaints about the violation of observers’ rights, problems over voters’ lists, violation of the voting conspiracy and assembling of party supporters at election districts.
Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has released final preliminary turnout by 8pm and stated it reached 45.64 percent.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikahsvili congratulated all of Georgia "with the completion of peaceful and free elections”. Commenting on the first exit poll results for the 2017 municipal elections in Georgia, Kvirikashvili said "this is another extremely important step towards democracy”.
In Georgia 1,262,809 voters throughout the country cast their vote in the Municipal Elections by 5pm this afternoon. Voter turnout was 36.71 percent at 5pm - nine hours after polling stations opened across the country, said the Central Election Commission (CEC) in its latest media update.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has cast his ballot in today's Municipal Elections and voted for "a better Tbilisi”. PM arrived at Saburtalo #24 polling station in central Tbilisi about 9:00am with his family.
Ruling Georgian Dream party’s candidate Kakha Kaladze appears to be winning the mayoral race in capital Tbilisi. The Central Election Commission (CEC) released preliminary results of the Municipal Elections 2017.
A second round of mayoral elections could be needed in six municipalities across Georgia, says chair of the Central Election Commission Tamar Zhvania, based on preliminary results. The municipalities are Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Martvili, Kazbegi, Khashuri, and Borjomi.
The Council of Europe (CoE) Congress of Local and Regional Authorities was overall satisfied with the calm, uneventful and well-administered Election Day in most of the polling stations visited by the delegation, following a competitive campaign where democratic values were respected by and large.
Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria held a press conference before releasing her office’s annual report on the state of human rights in Georgia