Parliamentary commission finds 'no significant shortcomings' in 2020 elections
Several opposition political parties still believe that the 2020 parliamentary elections were falsified in favour of the ruling Georgian Dream party. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Significant shortcomings were not found in the parliamentary elections of October 31, 2020, the temporary parliamentary commission created to study the matter stated earlier today.
The Georgian parliament established the temporary commission earlier this year to investigate allegations of parliamentary election violations, which caused a six-month political standoff in the country and was largely solved following the EU-mediated agreement on April 19.
The main part of the opposition did not participate in the commission's activities. Former members of the pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots Pridon Injia and Davit Zilpimiani, who established the political party European Socialists were involved in the commission's work.
The temporary parliamentary commission worked for about 3 months and found that ‘the 2020 parliamentary elections were competitive and fundamental freedoms were respected.’
The resolution document of the parliamentary commission is planned to be approved at today’s session, which requires not less than 51 votes.
The majority of the oppositions do not attend the session due to distrust in the commission.
The commission selected 20 of the most problematic voting precincts out of 41, where cases of excess and deficiency of ballot papers were recorded.
As a result of comparing the data, the commission established that the difference between the official data and the commission’s findings were ‘miserably small.’
Chairman of the parliamentary temporary commission Givi Minakadze stated earlier today that no acts of falsification were found–‘only minor flaws.’
He also noted that a number of shortcomings were identified due to the pandemic and stressful environment, indifference to assigned duties and lack of competence, ‘which had no significant impact on the election results.’
Minakadze also said that the ‘incorrect parallel counting’ of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) escalated the situation in Georgia, damaged the country's reputation and tarnished the image of the organisation.
Vice-speaker of Parliament Archil Talakvadze responded to the recent resolution of the temporary parliamentary commission and noted that ‘the commission found that the election was not falsified.’
The accusation made by the opposition that the elections were falsified was not true and could not be substantiated,” said Talakvadze.
Several opposition political parties still believe that the 2020 parliamentary elections were falsified in favour of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Signatory parties of the EU-mediated agreement agreed that if the ruling party fails to get 43 per cent of the vote in the self-government elections of 2021, early parliamentary elections will be scheduled.
The Georgian parliament has formed a temporary commission to investigate alleged election violations and their impact on the results of the October 31 parliamentary election. The legislators have agreed to establish the three-month commission at a plenary session earlier today.
The Georgian parliament has elected Giorgi Kalandarishvili as the new head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) in a fourth vote, following the resignation of the body’s former chair Tamar Zhvania in late June. Two other individuals, Gia Tsatsashvili and Maia Zaridze, were elected members of the commission.
A number of opposition parties have put forward the United National Movement chair Nika Melia for the post of Tbilisi mayor, while Droa movement leader Elene Khoshtaria has been put forward for the City Council (Sakrebulo) chair for the upcoming municipal elections in October.
The head of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) Elene Nizharadze has resigned following a mistake in ISFED’s parallel vote count data. ISFED admitted to the mistake in its data of the parallel vote count earlier in December, while the data has been used by opposition parties for several weeks as evidence that the ‘October 31 parliamentary elections were fabricated’ by the ruling Georgian Dream party and the Central Election Commission. ISFED board members said that Nizharadze’s resignation came after consultations and a broad consensus in the NGO.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has adjusted its results of parallel vote tabulation (PVT) based on which the ruling Georgian Dream ruling party receives 47.6% of votes instead of 45.8%, while the opposition United National Movement/Strength in Unity election bloc receives 27.4% of votes instead of 26.4% in the October 31 parliamentary elections.
The Georgian parliament has failed to elect a new chairperson and members of the Central Election Commission (CEC) for the third time, following the resignation of the CEC’s head Tamar Zhvania on June 30. Zhvania’s resignation was demanded by the opposition following the 2020 parliamentary elections, of which they accused her of helping the ruling Georgian Dream party to fabricate. Further changes came to the country’s electoral system on June 28 thanks to the EU-mediated agreement, which put an end to the political standoff in Georgia caused by the parliamentary elections of October 31.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has confirmed October 2 as the date of local self-government elections of Georgia.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has reported 15 alleged cases of dismissal on political grounds in Georgia in the run up to the October 2 municipal elections. The organisation has also reported several cases of direct or indirect compulsion for the involvement of the educational institutions’ employees in the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party’s campaign. However, ISFED praised the process of interviewing the candidates for membership of the District Election Commission (DEC) which was broadcast live.