Central Election Commission denies alleged presence of dead individuals in electoral lists
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) launched its long-term election observation mission in Georgia in run up to municipal elections while the European Parliament along with the OSCE/ODIHR will send observers for local elections in the country. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia responded to the non-profit organisation Civil Election Commission’s statement that 683 dead individuals are in electoral voters’ lists in 25 Georgian municipalities and called it ‘disinformation and attempt to mislead citizens.’
The CEC representative Tornike Gigisvanidze stated that it is impossible for an individual to vote instead of a deceased person ‘as the voter is obliged to present the ID (identification document) card at the polling station.’
The Public Service Development Agency and other accountable state agencies submit the data four times a year for the formation of the CEC voters’ list. On September 15 of this year, the agency will provide us with updated data, based on which a unified list of voters for the October 2 elections will be compiled,” Gigisvanidze said.
The organisation has announced earlier today that in 25 municipalities 683 individuals who were born before 1930 and who have died as of today are still registered in the electoral voters’ lists.
It claimed that municipalities provided them with information of 3,900 citizens who were born before 1930. Out of these 3,900 people 1,311 have died as of April 12 and 683 individuals from this list are still registered as voters for upcoming elections.
The Civil Election Commission noted that the scale of the issue is much larger as they only requested information from 25 small and medium-size municipalities out of 73 Georgia’s municipalities in total.
However, Gigisvanidze noted that the election administration has ‘levers at the legislative level which enable voters to exercise their civic duty in a fully transparent environment.’
The Civil Election Commission is a newly established organisation by civil activists from the Shame movement and the Public Initiatives Association which monitors pre-election and election violations.
The upcoming local self-government elections are scheduled for October 2.
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) launched its long-term election observation mission in Georgia in run up to municipal elections while the European Parliament along with the OSCE/ODIHR will send observers for local elections in the country.
Covid-19 patients who are undergoing treatment in hospitals and individuals in self-isolation or quarantine will be able to participate in the upcoming October 2 self-government elections, the Central Elections Commission (CEC) has reported. "Covid-19 patients in our country will be able to use ballot papers for the election of the mayor and proportional representation and consequently, will be able to exercise their right to vote,” Deputy Chairman of the CEC Giorgi Sioridze said.
All Georgian constituencies will be provided with video cameras to record the vote-counting process during the upcoming October 2 municipal elections, Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Giorgi Sioridze announced earlier today. Sioridze also noted that video recordings are the only ‘new technological innovation’ implemented for the upcoming elections.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia has called on voters to check their personal details on the website voters.cec.gov.ge as the deadline for making changes is 6 p.m. on October 14.
The Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) has stated that some political parties ‘are exercising unprecedented pressure’ on its members which ‘disrupts the activities’ of the district election commissions and ‘poses threats’ to the general election environment ahead of the October 2 municipal elections.
The European Parliament as well as the OSCE/ODIHR will send observers for Georgia’s October 2 municipal elections. OSCE/ODIHR has tweeted that both its short and long-term observers will monitor the elections. Twenty-five foreign organisations have been registered so far to observe the elections. The Georgian government says that it wants more international observers to prevent any question marks regarding the election results.
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) has offered recommendations ahead of the October 2 municipal elections to ‘help the country’ maintain its 30-year progress and leadership in the region for its commitment to Euro-Atlantic values.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has held an online call with head of National Democratic Institute (NDI) Madeleine Albright, where he stated that the Georgian government is eager to receive many international observers for the October 2 municipal elections.
The Georgian Public Defender’s Office says that ‘62 employees were subjected to various forms of pressure’ and dozens were dismissed on political grounds ahead of the October 2 municipal elections.
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.
The Central Election Commission has released messages allegedly sent to the body by the United National Movement party and showing "intense pressure" on the commission as it prepares for the municipal elections on Saturday.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) head Giorgi Kalandarishvili has stated that the reason for the presence of dead individuals in the unified list of voters is the deadline which allows an individual to appeal to the body no later than 18 days before the election day in order to make changes in the list. "During these last 18 days, unfortunately, people are dying every day, therefore, in these 18 days, those who have died could not be removed from the list. These people obviously will be [in the list],” Kalandarishvili said.
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) has released its report on the October 2021 Georgian municipal elections which says that the race was ‘generally well administered,’ but ‘deep flaws in the electoral and, significantly, the political environment, adversely affected the process.’