CoE Congress on Georgian local elections: technically well-organised, marked by unlevel playing field
The rapporteurs noted Georgia’s election legislation was “generally conducive to holding democratic elections.” Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe issued a report following the October 2021 local elections in Georgia on Wednesday, saying the elections were technically well-organised, but marked by an unlevel playing field.
The Congress delegation expressed satisfaction with the election day procedures, particularly with regard to the pandemic-related safety measures.
The rapporteurs noted Georgia’s election legislation was “generally conducive to holding democratic elections.”
However, the delegation also observed irregularities, including alleged vote-buying, which may have influenced the election process “to some extent.”
To our regret, the election campaign was characterised by extremely high tensions and the elections, instead of being about local issues, became rather a referendum about the current government. As a result, the local elections were overshadowed by national issues and I would even say that democracy on local level was taken hostage of the overall national political situation,” they explained.
Based on the observations, the Congress encouraged the Georgian authorities to take measures to reduce polarisation, to increase participation of women, and to strengthen the regulatory framework to ensure transparency campaign finances.
The Congress deployed an election monitoring mission to Georgia from September 29 to October 3, 2021.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia held mock elections using electronic verification and vote counting devices in Georgia’s seaside city of Batumi on Tuesday.
Transparency International Georgia, which filed 42 complaints and seven lawsuits on and after the October 2 municipal elections, reports that neither district election commissions nor courts have upheld any significant complaints. The organisation, which monitored the elections with the help of 300 observers, notes that the district election commissions and courts upheld just four complaints and one lawsuit seeking disciplinary actions against some of the election administration representatives.
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 OSCE/ODIHR mission, which has monitored the October 2 municipal elections in Georgia, says that the elections ‘were generally well-administered but held against the backdrop of a protracted political crisis and characterised by hardened polarisation.’