By 20:30 GYLA continues election observation. The electoral process is mostly conducted in the calm environment. By 20:00 the voting procedure has ended. By that time, the violations relating to the mobile ballot box, indirect influence upon the voters’ will, the attempts of taking the ballots away from the polling station, as well as other violations have occurred.
Within the latest few ours GYLA observers have identified the following violations:
Incident at the precinct #18 of Samgori District
The precinct election commission members (PEC) of the precinct #18 of the Samgori district have noticed that the voter – Zhivlen Kvitsiani had two electoral ballots in his hands. The PEC members have requested the individual to show the second ballot and leave the polling station, to which the individual responded with aggression. In this situation, the voter placed the ballot into the envelope and placed it into the electoral box, while crumpling another ballot and moving fast towards the door. He was stopped by the PEC members and was not given the possibility to take the ballot away from the polling station. The voter has thrown the ballot to the floor and left the polling station.
Violation relating to voting through the mobile ballot box
The following violation was identified at the precinct #60 of the Saburtalo district: after the mobile ballot box has returned to the polling station, the voter arrived, saying that he was in the mobile ballot box list and that despite this, the mobile box was not delivered to him. At the same time, it was revealed that the signature was made next to the name and surname of that person in the voters’ list, while that voter claimed that the signature was not his own. GYLA observer has submitted the complaint in this regard and has requested invalidation of the mobile ballot box results. It is possible that this case might include the signs of the violation.
At the precinct #30 of the Terjola district, as the mobile ballot box has returned, it was revealed that the integrity of the mobile ballot box was violated. In this regard, GYLA’s observer has requested invalidation of the mobile ballot box results.
Indirect influence over a voter’s will
At the precinct #67 of the Vake district, GYLA observer has revealed the so-called “captain manual”, consisting of approx. 5-7 pages and which represented the instructions for counting the arriving voters. The instructions said that the observers must send the information to the number 90031. According to the information available to the GYLA observer, this document belonged to the observer of the observer organization “Green Earth”, which was present at the territory, adjacent to the polling station.
We have contacted the head of the “Green Earth”, Mr. Nugzar Meladze, who noted that the mentioned document was needed for the organization for the purposes of the future Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) observation and did not answer any other questions that we have asked.
According to the information available to GYLA, on June 15, 2014, on the election day, the coordinators of the electoral bloc “Georgian Dream” were sending their free SMS notifications to the exact same number – 90031, the proof of which GYLA has obtained from the polling station #61 of the Vake district on June 15.
On June 30, 2014 GYLA has addressed the State Audit Office on the above fact and requested to examine the legality of the expenditures of the “Georgian Dream”.
GYLA’s observers have reported a maximal mobilization of the electoral supporters at the number of polling stations. For example, such cases were observed at the precincts #16, 64, 56, 68 of the Saburtalo district and precinct #107 of the Gldani district. There were cases, in which GYLA observers have reported that the electoral subject representatives were providing transportation for the voters to the polling stations. For example, the voters were mobilized through the mini-buses to the prcinct #68 of the Saburtalo district, as well as the precinct #107 of the Gldani district. The coordinators were mobilized at the territory adjacent to the precinct #34 of the Rustavi district, where the arriving voters were counted.
The confrontation at the territory, adjacent to the polling station
According to the information, spread by media, at approximately 13:00, the incident has occurred at the precinct #79 of the Rustavi district. Specifically, the 2 representatives of the observer organization “Club Free Zone” were physically assaulted by the unidentified individuals outside the polling station and were not given the possibility to record with the camera. At the moment when GYLA observer has arrived to the precinct, the incident was over; however, while speaking to the GYLA observer, the PEC member has confirmed the fact of physical confrontation. According to them, since the participants of the incident did not have the badge (certificate), the PEC members were not able to identify specific individuals engaged in the confrontation.
Attempt of participation in the elections by the unauthorized individuals
At the precinct #20 of the Isani district, the voter that already had the inking, tried to participate in the elections. The commission did not allow the individual to vote.
Voting with improper documentation
At the precinct #68 of the Vake district, the (Internally Displaced Person) IDP participated in the elections with the invalidated IDP certificate. GYLA’s observer has submitted the complaint on the mentioned violation.
Improper implementation of duties by the commission member
At the precinct #11 of the Isani district, the number of the issued ballots by 15:00 was exceeding the number of voters’ signatures in the voters’ list. GYLA’s observer has submitted the complaint on this fact.
By now, GYLA’s observers have submitted 29 complaints and made 28 remarks in the logbooks on the electoral violations.
Since its establishment in 1994, GYLA has been actively observing the elections of the legislative, executive and local self-governments, and has been making efforts towards supporting the conduct of the elections in the calm, fair environment, as well as the compliance with the legislation of Georgia in the electoral period.
GYLA is observing the second tour of the June 15, 2014 elections of the mayors and gamgebelis of the self-governing cities and communities (the executive bodies of the local self-government) in Tbilisi and 13 electoral districts.
The static observers are dislocated in over 300 polling stations throughout Georgia. The mobile groups are operating within the 23 electoral districts. GYLA is observing the problematic precincts, revealed during the June 15 elections, as well as the precincts, created in exceptional circumstances (so-called special precincts).
It is notable that the hotline is operating on the election day, which allows citizens, as well as the journalists to receive the legal consultation regarding the electoral procedures. The hotline number is: 218 – 26 – 11.
On the election day, the hotline will be operating in GYLA for the journalists and media organizations. By calling the hotline number 230-61-63, journalists and media organizations will be able to receive the information of interest to them, as well as the consultation regarding the electoral procedures, election day violations and the mechanisms to respond to them. Moreover, they will be able to inform us of the violations revealed by them on the election day.
Additionally, visit the www.electionsportal.ge for receiving the exhaustive information on the election day violations, where you can submit the violations that you have revealed through filling out the online form or sending the free SMS to the number 90039.
GYLA will conduct 1 more press-conference regarding the process of the election day (in the NGO Media Center; address – Chavchavadze ave. 23).
GYLA will evaluate the election day and conduct the press-conference at 11:00 on July 13.
The election observation of the second tour of the June 15/2014 elections of the executive bodies of the local self-government (mayors and gamgebelis of the self-governing cities and communities) was made possible through the financial support from the “Open Society – Georgia Foundation” (OSGF). The opinions expressed in the statement belong to the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and may not represent the opinions of the donor organization.
