Ruling Party alleges “scheme of election manipulations by opposition”, accuses ISFED of “hiding” findings

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday alleged a “systematic manipulation of votes by opposition parties”, while also accusing the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, a domestic electoral watchdog, of “withholding critical data from its parallel vote tabulation” in Saturday’s general elections. 

In a briefing at the party's Tbilisi office, Mdinaradze criticised the ISFED's “reluctance” to release its findings, calling it “an unprecedented action” reminiscent of what he described as “falsification” of similar data by the organisation during the 2020 general elections. 

It’s been six days since the election, and the ISFED still has not published their findings”, the official said, citing the NGO’s confirmation that its PVT matched with the election administration’s official figures, without providing other details. 

Mdinaradze further challenged the opposition to provide evidence of their claim of “rigged elections”, noting, “our public has endured six days of unproven claims of alleged rigging and stolen votes”. 

In contrast to the “undocumented allegations”, the MP highlighted what he called specific cases of “manipulation” of the vote by the opposition, claiming his party had “81 confirmed cases” where ruling party supporters had been removed from voter lists due to being registered as opposition representatives at polling stations removed from their residences. 

Citing an example, he claimed that voter Nona Nemsadze had her registration reassigned by the opposition to a remote polling location, a move he said had aimed to “prevent her from voting”.

Mdinaradze also described a second “scheme” that allegedly involved opposition representatives who managed mobile voting visits for citizens selected by a lot. 

He claimed that, when encountering GD supporters, the representatives would “refrain from obtaining required signatures on official documents, taking advantage of citizens’ lack of awareness of the documentation requirements, which led to the exclusion of those votes”.

Further, the official alleged the opposition might have offered financial incentives to ruling party voters to stay home on election day, though he refrained from detailing specifics pending further evidence.

Mdinaradze concluded by urging the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia to “thoroughly investigate the cases”, asserting the GD believed the actions “contain signs of a crime” and warranted appropriate legal action if proven.