GYLA: voting held ‘without substantial violations’

The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), one of the leading NGOs in Georgia, reported that the voting procedure on May 19 by-elections was held “without any substantial violations.”

The Head of GYLA Sulkhan Saladze said that neverheless there was still tenssion in Zugdidi, one of the five municipalities where the local population was electing a new mayor.

He mainly referred to alleged cases of “controlling voters’ will” as coordinators and party supporters were mobilised near the polling stations.

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

The Head of GYLA also condemned ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili for calling on opposition “not to step back” via a Facebook video address.

GYLA observed today’s by-elections with a total of 50 observers.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has also announced that today’s by-elections were held in a “mainly calm environent” and voters had the opportunity to express their will “freely”.