Georgia’s Public Defender urges election administration to “ensure voting rights” of IDPs abroad

Georgia’s Public Defender Levan Ioseliani on Friday urged the country’s Central Election Commission to ensure the participation in the October 26 general elections of citizens registered in the Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions and currently residing abroad through their inclusion in unified election lists. 

The Public Defender’s Office said the appeal followed reports that said IDPs registered in the regions and abroad were being denied entry onto the unified electoral list due to their lack of residential addresses in the Tbilisi-controlled territory. 

The Office also claimed individuals displaced from the Abkhazia region had been requested to change their registration address to participate in the vote. 

The Public Defender highlighted that maintaining a permanent place of residence in the occupied territory for individuals forcibly displaced from the areas carried “legal and political implications”, and the individuals “may be reluctant to change their permanent address”. 

He further stressed that technical registration issues “should not restrict their constitutionally guaranteed right to participate in elections, particularly in the case of general state elections”. 

Ioseliani urged the CEC to exercise its discretionary powers, “employing a human rights-based approach and a systematic interpretation” of the relevant norms, to use “all available options” and include the individuals in the unified electoral list.