Police arrest two for electoral violation in eastern Georgia

The Georgian Interior Ministry on Thursday said law enforcement officers had arrested two individuals for electoral violations after a video that showed an individual stuffing multiple ballots into a ballot box at a polling station of Marneuli in eastern Georgia during Saturday's parliamentary elections was released on social media.

The Ministry said the arrest had been made on charges of intentional falsification of election-related documents, including election lists, minutes, ballots, registration journals, and control sheets.

The body noted its investigation had established the arrested offenders had illegally placed ballot papers into a ballot box at the No.69 polling station in the village of Sadakhlo in Marneuli municipality.

It added the country's Central Election Commission had suspended the voting process following the incident and declared results from the precinct invalid.

The decision was made following an emergency meeting of the district election commission after Giorgi Kalandarishvili, the Chair of the CEC, called for an “immediate investigation” into the incident.

The crime is punishable by up to two years of imprisonment.