2021 Local Self-Government

Key findings for 20:00 

According to the information received from ISFED observers, in the reporting period, violations related to the voting procedures became more diverse. The following instance were reported: voting by persons who had undergone the inking procedure, repeat voting and other shortcomings related to applying and checking of the inking. 

Restrictions of the right to observe involving ISFED’s observers was still taking place, including in the form of verbal assaults and pressure/intimidation. Violations related to the signatures in the voters' lists were also reported, including the cases when the voters found a signature made on their behalf in the signature section of the table version of the voters list. Tense situation was reported at several polling stations.  

Outside polling stations, ISFED observed suspicious gatherings and cases of voter mobilization, including with automobiles. Facts of tracking of voters were also reported outside of the several polling stations. There were cases of verbal assaults and hostile environment, including against ISFED’s observers. It is worth noting that wo cases of alleged vote buying were also reported. 

 

Violations reported from 14:00-20:00pm   

As of now, ISFED observers have reported the following violations:  

 

Restriction of the rights of observers 

• At the polling station #72 of the electoral district #67 (Zugdidi), one of the members of the commission and the chairperson expressed aggression towards the observers, threatened them to expel from the precinct, impeded their mobility and restricted their right to observe;  
• At the polling station #43 of the electoral district #17 (Telavi), ISFED observer’s rights were restricted. The observer was not allowed to check the inking and the ink checking device. Also, the commission chairperson was particularly aggressive towards the observer; the chairperson verbally assaulted ISFED’s observer and created a hostile environment for the observer;  
• At the polling station #1 of the electoral district #52 (Baghdati), the commission chairperson and the deputy chairperson were drunk. They expressed aggression towards ISFED’s observer. The observer was hindered to exercise the right to observe and was not allowed to submit a complaint. Intimidation and pressure against the observer were especially severe, leading other commission members to call the police.  

Dropping extra envelope in the ballot box  

• At the polling station #71 of the electoral district #5 (Isani), ballot box supervisor dropped a special envelope in the ballot box. This fact was followed by a discord and physical confrontation at the polling station, impeding the voting process and preventing voters to cast their vote for at least half an hour. Due to the tense environment at the polling station, the commission chairperson called the police.  

Repeated voting  

• At the polling station #91 of the electoral district #59 (Kutaisi), a voter cast her/his vote both with the mobile ballot box list and with the table version of the voters list;  
• The voter registered at the #92 polling station of the electoral district #67 (Zugdidi) cast his/her vote both at this station and also at the polling station #36 of the same electoral district.  

Violations of the procedure of casting of votes  

• At the polling station #98 of the electoral district #9 (Nadzaladevi), a voter voted without inking. The registrar explained that he/she forgot to apply the ink;  
• At the polling station #83 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), the ink checking device could not recognize the ink. Also, the ink could have been fully removed by using sanitation spray;  
• At the polling station #23 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), the ink checking device did not work properly. The queue manager pointed out the shortcoming several times, but the chairperson did not address the issue. The ink checking device was finally substituted at 15:40pm, which made it possible to check the ink;  
• At the polling station #49 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), the ink could have been removed with sanitation spray;  
• At the polling station #26 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), a voter with inking already applied to his/her thumb, was allowed to vote;  
• At the polling station #39 of the electoral district #20 (Rustavi), three voters who had already applied ink to their thumb, were allowed to cast their vote;  
• At the polling station #5 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), a voter with the trace of ink in his/her thumb, was still allowed to cast his/her vote;  
• At the polling station #83 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), a voter with a trace of ink was still allowed to vote due to the individual decision of the commission chairperson. The voter used sanitation spray and claimed that the trace of ink was actually an allergy and not an ink;  
• At the polling station #39 of the electoral district #20 (Rustavi), the queue manager identified a voter with ink already applied. However, the voter was still allowed to vote;  
• At the polling station #7 of the electoral district #59 (Kutaisi), several cases were reported when voters with inking applied were trying to cast the vote repeatedly;  

Voting with the improper documentation  

• At the polling station #62 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), a voter was allowed to cast the vote using a copy of the ID card. Despite the observer’s notice, the commission chairperson did not address the issue.  

Violations related to the voters list  

• At the polling station #50 of the electoral district #5 (Isani), a voter included in the list of mobile ballot box, voted with the table version of the polling station;  
• At the polling station #30 of the electoral district #67 (Zugdidi), a registrar handed out the ballot paper to and obtained the signature from a voter, who was not registered at this polling station. Upon noticing this fact by the ISFED’s observer, the voter was dismissed from the polling station without being allowed to cast the vote. At the same polling station, a voter discovered that somebody had already signed in the designated spot, on behalf of his/her name. The voter was offered to sign in another spot instead. Notably, at the same polling station two similar cases were also reported – voters found out the signatures were already placed in the designed area, on their behalf;  
• At the polling station #18 of the electoral district #67 (Zugdidi), a voter found out that the area designated for his/her signature was already occupied by somebody else’s signature, made on behalf of the voter;  
• At the polling station #28 of the electoral district #83 (Khelvachauri), a voter discovered someone else’s signature in the designed area for his/her signature;  
• At the polling station #20 of the electoral district #70 (Poti), pursuant to the registrar’s instruction, a voter signed on behalf of the other voter. At the same polling station, two voters placed cross instead of their signatures. As they explained, they do not know how to sign. Both voters were handed ballot papers and allowed to vote;  
• At the polling station #5 of the electoral district #7 (Chughureti), upon returning the mobile ballot box to the polling station, it turned out that the IDs numbers included in the mobile ballot box list, were contained errors. Also, there is one less signature in the mobile ballot box list, compared to the respective number of ballot papers.  

Tracking the voters  

• At the polling station #53 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), registrars are marking the voters who cast their vote in their own papers, indicating their names and last names.  

Agitation at the polling station 

• At the polling station #11 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), a representative of the United National Movement showed up without a relevant badge. Also, the representative was openly campaigning in favor of the party. Later, the same person voted at the same polling station and took a photo in the voting booth. Despite relevant notice, commission members did not address the violation;  
• The polling station #63 of the electoral district #2 (Vake) was accessed by the observers representing the following organizations – Young Diplomats League, Youth Generation League, and Anti-corruption Media-Center. They accused a commission member of dictating a voter whom to vote for. This was followed by confrontation between observers and commission members. The commission issued the exclusion protocol, though the observers did not obey the order. Voting process was temporarily halted at the polling station. Eventually, the incident was resolved after police interference.  

Other violations  

• At the polling station #22 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), a registrar put a ballot paper in the pocket;  
• At the polling station #17 of the electoral district #20 (Rustavi), disorder and confrontation between observers, commission members and the commission chairperson took place systematically. The chairperson did not address the issue. Due to the persisting discord, registrars had difficulties in fulfilling their functions;  
• At the polling station #110 of the electoral district #10 (Gldani), a voter with the badge of the Anti-corruption Media Center accessed the polling station several times. The commission chairperson requested proof of registration. The badge was verified using the QR code, but it turned out that the actual owner of the badge was a different person;  
• At the polling station #62 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), the commission chairperson did not fulfil the assigned duties from the opening the polling station, sat in a separate room and did not pay attention to the voting process. Around an hour earlier, the commission chairperson left the station and did not returned.  

 

Violations/trends observed outside the polling stations (14:00-20:00)   

In the period from 14:00 to 20:00, ISFED observers have reported following violations:   

 

Suspicious gatherings of persons (within 100 meters) 

• At the polling station #45 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), there were suspicious gatherings of persons in cars within 10 meters from the polling station; 
• At the polling station #19 of the electoral district #5 (Isani), there was a gathering of 10 persons; 
• At the polling station #45 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), there were three mini-buses parked near the polling station, with Georgian Dream coordinators sitting inside. They reportedly had voters lists and were recording voters who had cast their votes; 
• At the polling station #3 of the electoral district #60 (Ozurgeti), there was a group of persons in a car within the 80-90-meter range, who were monitoring the process throughout the day; 
• At the polling station #3 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), there were two persons sitting in a car parked near the polling station for a long period of time; 
• At the polling station #19 of the electoral district #6 (Samgori), there were up to five members of the criminal underworld, who were communicating with an observer of the “Students Union” organization. Namely, the observer was leaving the polling station and relaying information to members of the criminal underworld.  

 

Suspicious gathering of persons (beyond 100 meters) 

• At the polling station #42 of the electoral district #2 (Vake), there was a suspicious gathering of persons beyond the 100-meter range. The persons were periodically entering the 100-meter range; 
• At the polling station #110 of the electoral district #6 (Samgori), there was a suspicious gathering of persons in three cars. 

 

Alleged Vote buying 

• At the polling station #19 of the electoral district #5 (Isani), a fact of alleged vote buying was identified, namely, a person who was present outside the polling station for a long period of time handed out money to a voter. The person was communicating with voters throughout the day. There was also a case of the person handing out a blue paper card to a voter; 
• At the polling station #6 of the electoral district #6 (Samgori), ISFED’s observer witnessed a phone conversation of the queue manager with an unidentified person. The queue manager left the polling station premises and handed out to a voter, who was also leaving the polling station, a folded paper, which was most likely money. 

 

Pressure/verbal confrontation  

• At the polling station #42 of the electoral district #2 (Vake), there was a verbal confrontation between persons standing beyond the 100-meter range and a polling station observer, after the latter tried to take their photo. The situation was resolved after police interference; 
• At the polling station #45 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), ISFED observer was pressured by a commission member. The incident took place after the observer noticed a fact of the Georgian Dream coordinator handing out money to a voter. The observer was also pressured by unidentified individuals, who were accusing the former of taking a photo; 
• At the polling station #98 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), persons sitting in a mini-bus parked within the 100-meter range reportedly had voters lists. After the observer noticed the fact, one of the persons hid the papers and verbally insulted the observer; 
• At the polling station #45 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), representatives of the criminal underworld verbally assaulted ISFED’s observer and created a hostile and threatening environment for the observer’s work. 

 

Tracking of voters 

• At the polling station #102 of the electoral district #67 (Zugdidi), two suspicious persons were recording the names of voters in a notebook. When the observer approached them, they left the premises with a car; 
• At the polling station #46 of the electoral district #7 (Chugureti), an accredited observer of the Youth Initiative for Democracy organization was periodically leaving the polling station and was taking note of voter's names and last names; 
• At the polling station #42 of the electoral district #2 (Vake), an observer, upon leaving the polling station, called an unidentified individual and relayed certain numbers, a person’s name and last name and that the person had cast his/her vote. 

 

Organized mobilization of voters  

• At the polling station #42 of the electoral district #2 (Vake), Georgian Dream activists were accompanying elderly voters. They asked them questions about who they were going to vote for. These persons were sitting in several cars parked near the polling station; 
• At the polling station #87 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), a car was involved in voter mobilization. The driver communicated with the Georgian Dream representative at the polling station once; 
• At the polling station #5 of the electoral district #5 (Isani), a car transported various voters to the polling station four times; 
• At the polling station #20 of the electoral district #7 (Chugureti), an accredited representative of the Georgian Dream was leaving the station premises and was mobilizing voters over the phone. Namely, the representative was calling some unidentified persons and was urging them to bring voters because of low turnout. At the same polling station, two cars transported voters five or six times a day; 
• At the polling station #98 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), a car was transporting voters to the polling station throughout the day; 
• At the polling station #27 of the electoral district #60 (Ozurgeti), two cars were transporting voters to the polling stations. The drivers were communicating with each other. One of the cars had a sticker with “41” glued on it, which was removed after the observer noticed it. 

 

Mobilization of party coordinators 

• At the polling station #45 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), there were three coordinators within the 100-meter range, who were calling the voters and urging them to vote. ISFED’s observer was told that they were Georgian Dream representatives and they had a right to do so; 
• At the polling station #11 of the electoral district #17 (Telavi), an accredited representative of the Georgian Dream party was frequently leaving the polling station and was communicating with a person sitting in a nearby car. 

 

Movement of suspicious persons at polling stations 

• At the polling station #7 of the electoral district #7 (Chugureti), there was a person with a voters list. The person ran away when one of the observers asked a question about his/her identity. 

 

Complaints and statements  

As of 20:00, ISFED observers have filed 63 complaints at precinct election commissions, 58 complaints at district election commissions and 22 entries in the record book. 

 

ISFED will released the next statement on October 31, 2021. 

 

Information on the monitoring mission 

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) monitored the October 30, 2021 Municipal election runoffs in eight municipalities, including five self-governing cities (Tbilisi, Rustavi, Batumi, Poti and Kutaisi) and 3 self-governing communities (Zugdidi, Ozurgeti and Telavi). ISFED’s election day observation mission consisted of 27 mobile groups, 544 observers deployed at polling stations and 29 observers deployed at district electoral commissions. ISFED also observed the outside perimeter of polling stations with 100 observers. ISFED operated data and incident processing centers at its headquarters, with 23 operators and 10 lawyers, respectively.   

 

For further information, follow the organization’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.    

  

ISFED's monitoring mission is made possible by the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European Union (EU). Monitoring of the outside perimeter of polling stations was made possible by the British embassy in Georgia. The opinions expressed herein belong solely to the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USAID, the United States Government, the EU, or the UK Government.