Election Commission extends time to voters in coronavirus self-isolation to request ballot box service
The Georgian Central Election Commission has extended the registration time due to high-demand.Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) has given additional time to voters who are in self-isolation due to the coronavirus to request ballot box service for the October 31 parliamentary elections.
The voters who were officially registered as self-isolated by the country's Health Ministry were able to phone CEC between October 24 and 26 and request ballot box service on election day.
The CEC reported earlier today that the registration was prolonged until 18:00 of October 27 due to the high-demand.
Transparency International NGO has welcomed the CEC’s decision. However, the NGO predicts that ‘thousands of votes may be lost’ due to shortcomings in the registration.
The NGO says that many of the voters in self-isolation who requested the ballot box service from CEC were not officially registered.
The Health Ministry list comes with shortcomings and many individuals who are actually in self-isolation are not listed. If the individuals are not listed as self-isolated by the Health Ministry, the CEC is unable to meet their requests for ballot boxes,” said the NGO.
The NGO says that automatic registration of individuals in self-isolation and opening special polling stations in quarantine zones or in hospitals ‘would have removed a wide range of problems.’
Georgia has reported 1,824 new cases of coronavirus, 1,262 recoveries and 23 deaths in the past 24 hours. Georgia has had 32,127 cases of coronavirus since February 26, 2020. Since then 12,632 patients have recovered, while 238 others have died. 3,847 individuals are undergoing treatment in hospitals as of today, while 2,238 others are in hotels. 3,757 individuals are in quarantine around the country.
Georgia has passed into the epidemiological ‘red zone’ as COVID-19 numbers due to the increased daily numbers of coronavirus cases.
Independent majoritarian candidate for Didube-Chugureti district in Tbilisi and former member of High Council of Justice of Georgia Anna Dolidze says that the government ‘is preparing for the mass fabrication’ of the October 31 parliamentary elections with the use of ballot boxes.
Coronavirus patients who are being treated in hospitals or are in isolation will be able to vote in the parliamentary elections in Georgia on October 31, announces the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia told journalists earlier today that the election campaign of the ruling Georgia Dream party is ‘very open and transparent’. At the meeting with journalists in the western Georgian town of Poti, PM Gakharia denied allegations that the government had been using administrative resources, threats and resorting to vote-buying.
US ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says that the success of the October 31 parliamentary elections is up to the Georgian Dream government and the Georgian people.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that the United National Movement opposition party has requested a permit from Tbilisi City hall to hold a large rally on Rustaveli Avenue in central Tbilisi at 12:00 on October 31, on the day when parliamentary elections are scheduled in the country.