Int’l observers: local elections in Georgia competitive, but marred by allegations of pressure on voters, vote-buying
The international election observation mission to the Georgian local elections said that the elections were centred on national political issues due to a protracted political crisis overshadowing local issues. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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“Georgia’s local elections were competitive and technically well administered, but marred by widespread allegations of electoral violations, vote-buying, and an unlevel playing field, as well as intimidation and pressure”, the international observers have stated today.
The joint observation mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the European Parliament (EP), held a press conference in Tbilisi earlier today.
????Join us LIVE - on Facebook - at 1pm CET (3pm in Tbilisi) for the press conference of the international observers following the local #elections in #Georgia????https://t.co/4p8fCaZqj4 pic.twitter.com/NTUgdoaeY8
— OSCE/ODIHR (@osce_odihr) October 3, 2021
Noting that the election day ‘went smoothly overall’, the international observers had ‘a positive assessment in the overwhelming majority of polling stations’.
However, ‘there was concern over the widely observed practice of observer organisation representatives acting as party supporters and even interfering in the voting process, as well as the intimidating presence of party activists outside some polling stations’.
A total of 1,815,776 people (51.92 per cent of eligible voters) have cast ballots in the municipal elections on October 2. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
The election campaign was assesses as ‘generally calm, although cases of violence, and aggressive confrontation were observed as election day drew closer’. The observers said that allegations of electoral violations by both opposition and ruling party ‘were numerous throughout the campaign’.
In addition,’ the announcement of large-scale government projects was not in line with the spirit of the law’. This, the observers said, ‘together with the involvement of senior state officials in the campaign, gave the ruling party an undue advantage’.
The observers further note that while the candidate registration process was inclusive, many opposition candidates withdrew from the race, a number of them reportedly under pressure from the ruling party.
These elections saw a large range of candidates campaigning freely and many diverse views. They were also run transparently and professionally. However, an increasingly aggressive political discourse, and even cases of physical violence was of deep concern”, head of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission Albert Jónsson said.
He added that 'widespread and consistent claims of violations need to be thoroughly investigated by the authorities'.
Preliminary results of proportional elections for Tbilisi and regional city assemblies show that the ruling party is leading, followed by the UNM and Ex-prime minister Giorgi Gakharia's For Georgia party. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Head of the Congress delegation David Eray said that from the Congress’ perspective, ‘the election was a missed opportunity for local democracy in Georgia. It became, in fact, a referendum on the national government and overshadowed local issues, which is regrettable’.
Head of the EP Delegation Michael Gahler also noted that the ‘widespread and consistent allegations and personal testimonies should lead the competent authorities to investigate robustly cases of intimidation aiming at the withdrawal of opposition candidatures, pressure on civil servants, misuse of administrative resources, huge imbalances of financial means, in order not to further strengthen a feeling of impunity’.
For the post electoral period and beyond we would wish that the government and all parties follow the mature attitude Georgian citizens have shown by going to the polls in a peaceful spirit”, he said.
The international election observation mission to the Georgian local elections was composed of 334 observers from 37 countries, including 302 ODIHR experts and long- and short-term observers, 18 Congress members and staff from the Congress/Council of Europe, and 14 parliamentarians and staff from the EP.
A second round of mayoral elections are expected in all five big cities of Georgia, including Tbilisi, as none of the candidates received at least 50% + 1 of the vote.Municipal elections are held in Georgia per a mixed electoral system. Voters have to fill three ballot papers: the first ballot paper is for mayoral candidates (which are elected per a 50%+1 system). The winner is the candidate who will receive at least 50%+1 of the vote, otherwise a second round of elections will be held).
Incumbent Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze says that he expected victory in the first round of yesterday’s municipal elections, but says he is sure he will be victorious in the second round.
A second round of municipal elections in Georgia will be held on October 30 as some candidates did not receive enough votes to overcome the mandatory threshold, including in Tbilisi, based on the preliminary results of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
A total of 1,815,776 people (51.92 per cent of eligible voters) have cast ballots in the municipal elections as of 8 p.m. today. The Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairperson Giorgi Kalandarishvili thanked everyone for their participation in the elections.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has released the results of a parallel vote tabulation (PVT) of the proportional elections for Tbilisi and regional cities, which says that the ruling Georgian Dream party received 46.6% of the vote, while the United National Movement received 31.1% of the vote.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has stated that the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has won the local municipal elections ‘convincingly’ nationwide while the largest opposition United National Movement (UNM) party ‘lost the battle with Georgian people and the GD for the eighth time.’ "The elections were held in a successful, peaceful, free and fair environment and were unanimously positively assessed by international observers,” Garibashvili said.
The local municipal elections in Georgia yesterday has received high international attention which was monitored by 1,024 foreign observers from 52 international organisations. Various foreign ambassadors to Georgia has visited election precincts in the country and offices of local NGOs observing the elections and carrying out parallel counting.
The EU and US embassies have assessed the October 2 municipal elections in Georgia and stated that the race was generally well administered, but was characterised by ‘hardened polarisation.’ They agreed with the preliminary findings of the OSCE/ODIHR and said that the contestants were able to campaign freely in a competitive environment, and that the election day proceeded in an orderly and transparent manner.
MEPs Marina Kaljurand, Sven Mikser and Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, who observed the October 2 local municipal elections in Georgia, have stated that the country held a competitive and well-organised first round of local elections ‘despite the extremely polarised political environment and challenging epidemiological situation.’
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party head Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that the GD won the so-called referendum announced by ‘the radical opposition’ with 66 per cent of seats in city councils (Sakrebulo) nationwide. Kobakhidze said that the ruling party counts on increasing the figure to 68 per cent after the runoff.