HRC monitors observe the 2020 Parliamentary Elections in seven regions of Georgia – 1. Kakheti – the ethnic minorities inhabited villages of Sagarejo and Akhmeta municipalities; 2. Kvemo Kartli – the ethnic minorities inhabited villages of Gardabani, Marneuli and Bolnisi municipalities; 3. Samegrelo – the villages of Zugdidi municipality adjacent to the occupation line; 4. Shida Kartli – the villages of Gori, Khashuri and Kareli municipalities adjacent to the occupation line, and 5-7) Imereti, Adjara and Samtskhe-Javakheti regions.
The journalists of the online edition of Human Rights Center – humanrights.ge also observe and report about the election violations in the polling stations. The information provided by the HRC observers and journalists is published on the facebook page of the organization and on the online newspaper www.humanrights.ge in Georgian and English languages; the information is sent to media organizations.
HRC will prepare initial assessment of the election process after the polling process is over. By now, in the polling stations, where the observers of the organization are deployed, the polling process is conducted mostly in peaceful and fair environment. At this stage, the violations observed by the HRC monitors cannot affect the final results of the election.
By 11:00 am, HRC observers lodged 5 complaints in the precincts and made more than 10 remarks in the logbook.
Content of most part of the complaints is:
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A voter was not marked in the precinct # 14.23.47 of Bolnisi Election District and the HRC observer lodged a complaint to the PEC;
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The supervisor of the ballot box gave two envelopes to a voter in the precinct # 22.58.02 in Tskaltubo election district and the voter dropped the two ballot papers separately in the ballot box. HRC observer requested disciplinary liability of the violator.
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With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the main challenge of the 2020 Parliamentary Elections is to hold the polling process in safe environment. Regardless the statement of the Central Election Commission that the safety of the voters will be ensured in all precincts, the information provided by the monitors and spread in social media, shows that overcrowded polling stations is a serious problem for what the commission members cannot ensure the social distancing between them. In the regions, many precincts are located in little spaces and even without voters, they are overcrowded with the PEC members, and stationed observers. As a result, the risk of the spread of the infection is increasing. Another problem is that people enter the precincts without facemasks. There are facts, when the voters do not obey the requests of the observers, PEC members and chairpersons to wear facemasks though they do not have respective medical conclusion that cannot wear facemasks because of health problems. The PEC members and observers also demonstrate low civic culture. For example, in one of the precincts in the Pankisi Gorge, the PEC member is not wearing a facemask and she licks her fingers to pick up a ballot paper before handing it to a voter.
Young controllers
HRC observer reported that in Gardabani municipality, the following incident was observed in the precinct # 40 in Nazarlo village: individuals with the lists were sitting at the table nearby the PEC entrance. One of them was wearing a badge stating that he represented the Youth Center Georgia. They were holding the voters entering the PEC and recorded their names. This action contains the signs of attempted influence on the free choice of the voters. In accordance with the July 2020 amendments to the Election Code, within 25 meters distance of the polling station, it is prohibited to hold voters (Article 45 Paragraph 12 of the Election Code). Based on the request of the HRC monitor, the PEC chairperson of the polling station N 40 requested the violators to leave the territory and the problem was eradicated. It is significant to note that the PEC chairperson had adequate reaction to the violation.
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The 2020 Parliamentary Election monitoring projects of Human Rights Center include the observation of both the pre-election period and immediate observation of the polling process on the Election Day.
Stemming from the objectives of the projects, HRC shall monitor the compliance of the Georgian electoral process with international and local standards, facilitate public awareness raising with regard to the current political processes in the regions, and ensure the transparency of the election process in the selected polling stations.
HRC monitors shall attend the election process from the moment of opening the polling stations up to the end of the counting procedures and the completion of final protocols. HRC shall lodge the complaints regarding the violations of the election procedures to the district election commissions and to the Central Election Commission and where necessary to the courts. HRC observers shall follow all the proceeding with regard to the complaints up to the end of obtaining final results.
The information provided by the observers during the Election Day about the identified cases of violations shall be promptly published at www.humanrights.ge which is the online newspaper of HRC in Georgian and English languages and shall be further provided to various media outlets.
HRC shall publish a bilingual report on the violations and other findings identified by the observers during the pre-election period and immediately on the Election Day. The report shall reflect the recommendations towards the Central Election Commission, the Parliament of Georgia and relevant agencies.
The 2020 Parliamentary Elections monitoring projects are implemented by HRC with a support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, and the Black Sea Foundation for Regional Cooperation.
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