Election Commision chair meets dip corps, int’l observers for briefing on ‘disinformation campaign’ against commission
The head of Georgia’s Central Election Commission has met with dip corps and international observers earlier today at the headquarters of CEC in Tbilisi. Photo: CEC.
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Chairperson of the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) Tamar Zhvania met with the diplomatic corps and representatives of international observation missions to respond to questions about discrepancies at voting stations which have caused controversies.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) NGO said that in eight per cent of polling stations, ballot papers outnumbered voters’ signatures on the list ‘which is a serious violation and may have had an influence on four per cent of total votes’.
Zhvania said that the issue identified at different voting stations and reported by the NGO ISFED and various opposition leaders have an ‘objective reason.’
The imbalance between the ballot papers and voters’ signatures on the list is caused by the reason that some voters were unable to vote according to their places of registration. The voters who were in self-isolation, under quarantine, in hospitals or voted at special polling stations were unable to participate in the majoritarian elections, they only voted for parties (participated in proportional elections),” Zhvania said.
Police erected iron barriers in front of the CEC building earlier today. Opposition activists, who gathered there to hold a rally were throwing stones to the barriers, Photo: 1TV.
She also stated that opposition candidates and activists ‘deliberately released’ uncorrected summaries.
There are cases when an error takes place while entering figures in the summaries of election results. To address the error, a corrected summary is made which comes with the initial version of the summary. Of course we use corrected summaries when we count the results. Individuals on social media uploaded the initial versions of the summaries to mislead people, while the corrected summaries were available on the official webpage of CEC,” Zhvania said.
Zhvania presented the summaries taken from social media and showed them to the audience.
During the meeting the opposition members and activists were holding a rally in front of the CEC building, accusing Zhvania of supporting the ruling Georgian Dream party ‘fabricate the elections.’
The protesters called on Zhvania to resign.
The US Department of State stated earlier today that the Georgian elections were mostly free and competitive.
- US Embassy welcomes ‘competitive’ Georgian elections, laments ‘deficiencies’
- MEPs of the EU parliament: 'elections were competitive, freedoms were respected'
- Int'l reactions to Georgian parliamentary elections in tweets
- Lithuanian MFA welcomes ‘important step’ of Georgian elections
However, Georgian opposition parties state that the elections were fabricated and they have plans to take to the street.
The Georgian Central Election Commission has responded to a report that in eight per cent of polling stations, ballot papers outnumbered voters’ signatures on the list.
Georgia's foreign minister David Zalkaliani expressed gratitude to the country's international partners for sending their observers for the parliamentary elections held on Saturday and pointed out their support for "further consolidation of democracy in Georgia".
Georgia has held peaceful, just, safe and democratic elections, says Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili.
The Central Election Commission of Georgia should recount votes in eight per cent of polling stations where there were more ballots than registered voters, says the chief executive director of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Elene Nizharadze.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili spoke about the recent parliamentary elections with the Central Election Commission (CEC) chairperson Tamar Zhvania earlier today. President Zurabishvili thanked Zhvania and her team for holding 'free, fair and just' elections amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Former President of Georgia, Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Saakashvili, has urged people to join the opposition rally on November 8 in Tbilisi despite the recent surge in coronavirus cases.
Twenty-five local NGOs, including Transparency International Georgia, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, have said in a joint statement that the Georgian Dream government has failed to conduct October 31 parliamentary elections in line with democratic standards.
'New electoral system paved way to more pluralistic parliament'
Director for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs Michael Siebert has posted on his Twitter account about the parliamentary elections held in Georgia on October 31, stating that the new electoral system paved the way to a more pluralistic parliament.
Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze says attacking the October 31 parliamentary election results is first of all in Russia’s interests and asks the public once again to think about it.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, who tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week, has stated that the country needs to broaden the scale of local coronavirus restrictions to make the measure more effective amid election-related street protests.Gakharia said earlier today in an online conference that the opposition demonstrations are expected to cause a sharp increase in new cases of coronavirus.
The President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) Attila Mesterhazy has issued a statement on the recent political and electoral developments in Georgia, in which he writes that although fundamental freedoms had been respected during the campaign and on election day, there had been several incidents which affected public confidence in parts of the process. He calls on Georgian authorities to investigate all incidents in a transparent and fair manner.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has asked the International Society For Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) to present the list of the eight per cent of election districts where, per the NGO, the ballots cast outnumber the signatures of registered voters. ISFED admitted to a mistake in its data of the parallel vote count on the weekend, while the data has been used so far by opposition parties ‘as evidence’ that the ‘elections were fabricated’.