Statement regarding the opening and setting up of the polling stations11:30

12 July

11:30

For the second round of the Municipal Elections “Multinational Georgia” is carrying out the elections monitoring mission in Kvemo Kartli (Rustavi city), Kakheti (Telavi, Kvareli and Akhmeta cities as well as Karajala community of Telavi municipality), Shida Kartli (Gori city), Mtskheta-Mtianeti (Mtskheta city) regions as well as in three electoral districts of Tbilisi (Krtsanisi, Isani and Samgori) with the high density of ethnic minority voters. The monitoring mission will also cover the Central Election Commission of Georgia. It has to be noted that the monitoring mission of the “Multinational Georgia” will cover all the electoral precincts of Telavi, Gori and Mtskheta cities. 

The monitoring mission will be executed by 156 observers out of which 116 are Short Term Observers (STO), 9 District Election Commission (DEC) observers, 30 Mobile Group (MG) Observers and 1 Central Election Commission (CEC) observers. 

6 Call Center Operators are engaged at the head office of the “Multinational Georgia” to enter and process the findings as obtained from the program deployed observers into the elections data base. The Call Center is specially organized to obtain electoral shortcomings on a regular base which could hamper the conduction of the elections in a democratic manner.   

Every citizen can independently report the electoral shortcomings or any elections related incidents to the Hot Line of the “Multinational Georgia” which will be functional throughout the Election Day to allow the processing as well as delivery of the respective measures to mitigate the violation of the electoral law. The program is legally assisted by the lawyer of the “Multinational Georgia”. 

By the findings as obtained on 11:00 A.M. all the observers of the ”Multinational Georgia” were allowed to freely enter the electoral precinct to conduct the observation. Majority of the electoral precincts was opened by 08:00 for the reception of the first voter. Observers of the “Multinational Georgia” have filed 3 complaints. Moreover, 22 incidents have been reported which have been eventually resolved as a result of verbal objections made by the observers. 

  • Some incidents have been reported when the electoral precincts have been opened prior to 7:00. The incidents have been reported at # 1 and # 16 electoral precincts of # 32 Gori electoral district as well as # 30 electoral precinct of # 16 Kvareli electoral district. The incidents have been resolved after the objections raised by the observers. 
  • One incident of violation of the procedures for the distribution of duties among the members of the precinct election commission has been reported at # 16 electoral precinct of # 32 Gori electoral district. The members of the precinct election commission have voluntarily distributed the duties without undertaking the respective legal procedures. The observer filed a complaint which has resulted in the repeated conduction of the polling procedures. 
  • The members of # 16 precinct election commission of # 32 Gori electoral district have been handed over the voters list, marking liquid and other respective materials prior to the conduction of the respective procedures for the distribution of the duties among the commission members. The incident has been resolved followed by the filing of the complaint by the observer of the “Multinational Georgia”. 
  • One fact of inappropriate setting up of the polling station has been reported at # 6 electoral precinct of # 17 Telavi electoral district: there were no instructions provided in the cabin regarding the voting and the spoiling of the ballot. The incident has been resolved as a result of objection raised by the observer of the “Multinational Georgia”. 
  • There was an incident of inappropriate conduction of the electoral procedures at # 4 electoral precinct of # 17 Telavi electoral district. The incident has been resolved as a result of objection raised by the observer of the “Multinational Georgia”. 
  • The registrar was not adequately performing his duties at # 8 electoral precinct of Isani electoral district. The incident has been resolved as a result of objection raised by the observer of the “Multinational Georgia”. 
  • There was an incident of inappropriate conduction of the electoral procedures at # 4 electoral precinct of # 27 Mtskheta electoral district. The incident has been resolved as a result of objection raised by the observer of the “Multinational Georgia”. 
  • Observer of the “Multinational Georgia” has identified the unauthorized person present at # 10 electoral precinct of Krtsanisi electoral district. The unauthorized person has left the polling station at the request of the observer. 
  • Registrar handed over two bullets (instead of one) to the voter at # 2 electoral precinct of # 27 Mtskheta electoral district. The explanation letter has been drafted after the incident has been objected by the observer. The incident was resolved. 
  • There was an attempt at # 3 electoral precinct of # 17 Telavi electoral district when the voter tried to vote with improper documentation. The voter has presented the driver license. The voter was not allowed to cast a vote as a result of objection raised by the observer of the “Multinational Georgia”. 
  • There was not a number of voters put in the special box of the demonstration protocol at # 21 electoral precinct of # 32 Gori electoral district. This has been explained by the potential increment of the voters quantity. The shortcoming has been removed as a result of objection raised by the observer of the “Multinational Georgia”.

Since 2003 Public Movement “Multinational Georgia” has been involved in a process of promotion of fair and transparent elections in Georgia. Organization has observed all the elections conducted in the country including in Ajara and so called South Ossetian Region. 

The elections monitoring program is financially supported by the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Open Society Georgian Foundation (OSGF) and National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

The content of the press release and other special announcements made by the “Multinational Georgia” might not reflect the opinion of the donor organizations. 

The next media statement of the “Multinational Georgia” will be made at 15:30 at the Media Center regarding the procedural violations to be revealed during vote casting process. 

Thank you for your attention!

 

Press-service

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