Gardabani Elections: Polling Day Monitoring Results by 20:30

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association is monitoring January 28, 2016 pre-term elections of Gardabani Municipality Gamgebeli.

In addition to civilian electoral precincts, GYLA is also monitoring the polling process in Vaziani, at a special polling precinct no.64, where to our knowledge total of 692 voters cast a ballot, including 685 military voters.

Voting ended at 20:00. As of now, GYLA’s observers have reported following types of violations:

Information about disturbance at electoral precinct no.2 in Gardabani

At around 19:20 media reported scuffle at Gardabani electoral precinct no.2. GYLA’s observer stationed at the precinct reported the opposite saying that voting proceeded peacefully at the precinct. According to the observer, they did receive reports of a clash outside the electoral precinct but it did not impact the situation inside the polling station - the polling process remained peaceful.

GYLA urges all election stakeholders to refrain from any types of provocation, in order to allow peaceful counting and tabulation of votes.

In addition, we urge the law enforcement authorities to ensure timely and effective investigation of the incident that occurred outside the electoral precinct no.2 of Gardabani. They should also ensure safety for all individuals involved in the election process.

Failure to adequately fulfill duties of an election worker

Three instances of similar violations were found at electoral precinct no.64 where military voters were casting a ballot. In particular, military voters named Manuchar Khabadze, Levan Siradze and Giorgi Kelaptrishvili found that someone had already signed along their names on the voting list. The military voters as well as members and registrars of respective electoral commission submitted statements about the incidents. In their statements registrars explained that it was a technical error, saying it was their fault that the voters had misplaced their signatures. GYLA’s observers filed complaints over the incidents at both district and electoral precinct commissions.

Additional information         

Nearly ten observers of GYLA are monitoring the Polling Day in static and mobile groups. Based on GYLA’s past experience, the monitoring focuses on electoral precincts that proved to be problematic in previous elections, on special electoral precincts and areas populated by ethnic minorities.

Since the day it was founded in 1994, GYLA has been actively monitoring legislative, executive and local self-government elections in Georgia, with the aim of promoting peaceful and fair conduct of elections, and strict abidance by applicable Georgian laws during the election processes. 

At the end of the day GYLA will sum up the course of the Election Day monitoring.