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Municipal Elections in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Region Were Peaceful but Full of Violations

June 11, 2010
Nino Gelashvili

Attempts to vote without IDs, lack of election booths, spoilt marking apparatus – this is short list of the violations which were observed by the observers of the Human Rights Center in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region on May 30 during the municipal elections.

About 55 observers of the Human Rights Center observed the municipal elections in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region. Coordinator of the project “Supporting the Fair Local Elections in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and Kakheti Regions” Nino Abaishvili said that the elections were peaceful in the region but several blatant violations of the law were observed during the polls.

In many polling stations (PS) the number of ballot papers was less than registered voters. However, it did not cause any problems and precincts did not need more ballot papers by the end of the day.

Observers said that people used to arrive at the precinct with the copies of IDs or IDs of other people; IDPs tried to vote without IDP documents. For example, at the Ganmukhuri village polling station # 38 in Zugdidi election district # 67, IDP Giorgi Kavtaradze was allowed to vote without IDP document and ID; commission members gave him a sealed ballot paper and he marked it.

A 17-year-old underage citizen voted in the polling station # 64 in Zugdidi district; the commission members said: “It is no problem; he soon will be 18.” At the same PS, the number of the counted ballot papers was different from the number of ballot papers registered in the final protocol.

Observer Ana Mazanashvili said that a woman arrived at the PS # 3 to vote but in her ID the address was crossed by color corrector and a new address was written over it. Despite the protest of the observer, the woman was allowed to vote. “I filed a complaint regarding the incident and only an observer from the National Council signed my complaint. The commission members registered it and gave me a corresponding notification on it,” said Ana Mazanashvili.

The apparatus to check the marked people was spoilt in many precincts. Besides that, those responsible for checking the marked people did not remain in their place and often moved around.

There were not enough booths in the Ganmukhuri village PS # 38 in Zugdidi election district # 67 – two booths for 1 319 people instead of three. The same problem was observed at the PS # 101. 889 voters were registered at the precinct but only one booth was installed in the precinct despite the requirement of the law. Observer Mariam Mazanashvili wrote a complaint after her verbal remarks were not heeded; the commission chairperson Guli Pipia and the secretary refused to accept her complaint but finally they registered it. The Central Election Commission (CEC) sent the additional booth only at 5:00 pm.

The annex to the special list of the portable ballot box in the polling station # 50 in Kakhati village did not have signatures of the voters; the portable box in Ganmukhuri village was not sealed up when it returned to the precinct. After the precinct was closed at the end of the day, the commission member Emzar Akhalaia (initiative group) damaged the main and portable boxes; threw the ballot papers on the table, mixed up everything and despite the protest of the commission chairperson and observers, they started to count the papers in disorder. Similar situation did not allow observers to react on the violations.

The observers state that sometimes the commission chairpersons were not able to control the situation. They saw certain people without observers’ badges at the precincts.
 
Observer Ana Mazanashvili recalls that women, who called themselves micro-coordinators, arrived at the polling station # 3. “They said micro-coordinators do not need badges though it was not right. After my explanations they left the precinct and never returned back. By the way, the woman said the people brought by mini-buses were neighbors who hired a mini-bus; commission chairperson and the representative of the National Movement said that transport was necessary to bring sick people. After their clarifications they started argument, went to the yard and negotiated on the common explanation; when they returned back to the polling station everybody gave one explanation – the neighbors had hired the mini-bus to come here.”

Several polling stations were arranged incorrectly; the precinct had 3-4 exits which complicated the observation process. At the PS # 3 in Khobi district the commission member from the National Movement was opening the window during the counting process and informed the people gathered in the yard about the results. Ana Mazanashvili said that those people were policemen but dressed in civil clothes. When the observer remarked about the violations and threatened to write complaint, the violation did not happen again.

Besides that, the observers saw policemen at several precincts so that the commission members did not need their assistance.

The list of the election players, information about the borders of the election district and addresses of all residential buildings, as well as the rules to fill in the ballot papers and an extract from the law when a ballot paper can be annulled were not posted up at the polling station or in the booths. A similar situation was observed at the polling station # 50 in Kakhati village. The chairperson clarified that they had not received those materials from the DEC. As a result of the several remarks of the observers, commission members wrote the list of the election players and instructions on how to fill in the ballot paper and then posted them up in the booths.

Observers said that commission members, among them the chairpersons and the secretaries were not competent in the procedures. Secretaries incorrectly registered the complaints and wrote notifications. Commission members often replaced each other at the precincts.

Nino Abaishvili said that several observers faced problems in the region; some of them were not allowed into the precinct because the observers’ documents did not indicate a specific polling station. “The problem was resolved after I personally arrived at the Zugdidi DEC # 67 and demanded them to allow our observer into the precinct,” said Abaishvili. In one occasion, the observer was not allowed to move around the precinct freely.

Mainly, the commission members envisaged the remarks of the observers. “18 complaints were filed in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region in total and 5 of them were satisfied by the DEC. It is noteworthy that each complaint contained several incidents of violations. Thus, the number of the complaints is not equal of the number of violations,” said Nino Abaishvili.
 
Currently, two complaints, which were not discussed by the DEC, are being discussed at the court. They request to annul the election results at the precinct and requests liability of the commission members in accordance to the Election Code of Georgia.

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