Turnout by 17:00 and Recent Developments
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) is monitoring the presidential elections throughout Georgia, in all the electoral districts. ISFED’s observation mission consists of 1,200 accredited and trained observers for the presidential elections of 2013, who have been deployed to precinct, district and central election commissions. There are also 73 mobile teams throughout the country.
ISFED is observing Election Day using an internationally recognized and advanced observation methodology called a Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT). ISFED has deployed PVT observers to a nationally representative, random sample of polling stations in all of the 73 districts. A PVT involves deploying highly trained observers to systematically assess the conduct of the voting and counting process as well as to verify the results announced by the Central Election Commission (CEC). ISFED has been observing elections since 1995. In addition, ISFED has successfully conducted seven PVTs, including the historic PVT during 2003 elections.
As of now, ISFED presents information about turnout and observed violations.
Key Findings
By 17:00, the PVT shows that 38.2 % of voters have participated (with a margin of error of +/-1.1%). It is a lower percentage than last year’s Parliamentary Elections when turnout by 17:00 was 52.1%.
Violations
At this point following violations were observed: Voting without proper documentation, breaching the inking procedure and presence of unauthorized persons at the polling station.
As of now, the organization’s observers have reported:
• 1 case of campaigning inside the polling station, as observed at polling stations #43 Dmanisi, where number 5 was circled in the voting booth.
• 4 cases where unauthorized people were present of at polling stations #4, #2 #19 in Akhaltsikhe and polling station #33 in Martvili;
• 3 cases of voting with improper documentation at polling station #28 in Sighnaghi, #22 polling station in Dusheti and #120 polling station in Kutaisi;
• 2 facts of improper processing/filling in the electoral documentation: in # 27 polling station in Kaspi, the demonstration protocol was not filled out; after observers complaints the omission was improved. At polling station #43 in Dmanisi, when a ballot paper was torn from the block of ballots, the number of the ballot papers was also torn away. There were 300 such ballot papers issued;
• 1 case of violating the secrecy of votes at polling stations #22 in Chokhatauri district, where a commission member voted outside the booth.
• 4 cases where inking was not checked was observed at polling station #20 in Kaspi;
• Inking was not performed at polling station #37 in Marneuli;
• 1 fact of a voter not being able to cast a vote due to the premade signature next to his/her name in the voters list at the polling station #33 in Saburtalo.
• 1 case of multiple voting; at polling station # 14 in Vani where one voter voted twice, through the general list and through the mobile ballot list.
• At polling station # 23 in Mtskheta a ballot box was not sealed until 14:30.
As of now, ISFED observers have filed 9 complaints to the precinct election commissions, and 40 complaints to the district election commissions.
Together with the partner NGOs, ISFED reports election violations to, and maps their location on, their web-portal - www.electionsportal.ge. Any citizen can send information about electoral violations by sending a free SMS to the number 90039.
ISFED’s observers report information to the Data Analysis Center in Tbilisi via short text messages (SMSs), phone calls, and tablet PCs. The Data Analysis Center is comprised of 20 data operators, 15 lawyers, and the staff of the Central Office.
ISFED calls upon eligible voters in Georgia to participate in the elections and to freely exercise their right to vote.
ISFED will make the next announcement at 22:30
ISFED’s observation mission is carried out with the support of the US people, and with funding of the USAID, NDI and EU. The opinions expressed above belong to ISFED only and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the EU, NDI, USAID or the Government of the United States