Noise in Kizilajlo Precinct # 50

At 13:00 pm, situation got tense in the polling station # 50 in Kizilajlo village, Marneuli municipality and the PEC chairperson called police; the precinct was closed for few minutes.

As the HRIDC observer reported, the noise and controversy in the polling station started after one of the observers moved the curtain of the election booth and started shouting that 41 was written inside the booth. Other observers also confirmed the fact that is illegal agitation in favor of the ruling party Georgian Dream. However, the PEC chairperson claimed it was provocation and the observer himself wrote the 41. 

The dispute between the observer and commission members turned into controversy and they attracted attention of the journalists standing near the precinct. However, a commission member and one of the observers standing in the door did not allow the journalists and cameras inside the precinct. As later the commission chairperson clarified, if they had allowed all journalists into the room together, it could hinder the ballot process; for that reason, the commission members limited number of journalists inside the polling station.

The commission chairperson called police for help. The police officers deployed at the entrance and acted according to the instructions of the PEC chairman. 

The observer, whose remark caused dispute in the polling station, left the precinct soon. Nobody knows which political party or observation organization he represented. 

Kizilajlo village in Marneuli municipality is under particular attention of observers and media because of the failed election process in the precinct # 48 of the same village in the first round of the Parliamentary Elections. 

Human Rights Center