History

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) is an independent non-for-profit non-governmental organization with one of the broadest regional networks in Georgia. It was established in 1995 for the purpose of carrying out citizen monitoring on elections and related political processes.

Throughout these years ISFED has monitored 26 elections and made an important contribution to the improvement of the Election Code as well as electoral and political environment in the country.

Having one of the largest domestic networks in Georgia, ISFED covers all municipalities of Georgia and operates through 6 regional offices and 73 regional representatives. As a membership-based organization, ISFED brings together 400 members and has a supreme governing body - the General Assembly, that meets once a year. General Assembly elects 9 members of the Board for a three-year term. One-third of Board Members are renewed on an annual basis, during General Assembly's yearly meetings. Executive Director is appointed by the Board and is charged with supervision on strategic directions and overall activities of ISFED.

Since the day it was founded, ISFED has monitored all important elections and referendums in Georgia. It has also implemented parallel tabulation of votes and monitoring of voter turnout for the last 9 elections.

  • 05.11.1995 – Presidential and parliamentary elections in Georgia;
  • 15.11.1998 – Plebiscite of persons displaced from Abkhazia;
  • 15.11.1998 – Local government and self-government elections;
  • 31.10.1999 – Parliamentary elections;
  • 09.04.2000 – Presidential elections;
  • 02.06.2002 – Local self-government elections;
  • 02.11.2003 – Parliamentary elections;
  • 04.01.2004 – Presidential election;
  • 28.03.2004 – Repeat parliamentary elections;
  • 05.10.2006 – Local self-government elections;
  • 05.01.2008 – Extraordinary presidential election;
  • 21.05.2008 – Parliamentary elections;
  • 03.11.2008 – Interim elections of Supreme Council of Adjara and the Parliament of Georgia;
  • 01.10.2012 – Parliamentary elections;
  • 27.10.2013 – Presidential elections;
  • 15.06.2014 – Local self-government elections;
  • 12.07.2014 – Second round of local self-government elections; 
  • 08.10.2016 – Parliamentary elections;
  • 21.10.2017 – Local self-government elections;
  • 12.11.2017 – Second round of local self-government elections;
  • 28.10.2018 – Presidential elections;
  • 28.11.2018 – Second round of presidential elections;
  • 30.10.2020 – Parliamentary elections;
  • 02.10.2021 – Local self-government elections;
  • 30.10.2021 – Second round of local self-government elections; 
  • 02.02.2022 – By-elections; 

In addition to monitoring elections, ISFED has also implemented project in the fields of civic education and local self-government, including

  • Monitoring of access to public information in government agencies;
  • Monitoring of citizen registration agencies in 32 regions;
  • Monitoring of accountability and transparency of local authorities;
  • Monitoring of local authorities;
  • Monitoring of transparency of local budget;
  • Monitoring of transparency of activities of the tax inspection;
  • Monitoring of the state auto-inspection, transport and registration agencies;
  • Control of the state passport agencies;
  • Protecting rights of recruits;
  • Monitoring the implementation of free state medical programs;
  • Analyzing problems of the socially vulnerable;
  • Protecting rights of landowners and raising their awareness about land taxes;
  • 2010 local self-government elections – monitoring composition of the election administration;
  • Promoting dialogue and skills for effective national election processes;
  • Role of civil society in the Eastern Partnership Countries for reinforcing participatory democracy;
  • Promoting media monitoring in Georgia;
  • Voter list verification commission and local self-government capacity building project;
  • Project for monitoring the developments following 2012-2013 parliamentary elections;
  • Raising public awareness about the 2013 election reform;
  • Legislative reform;
  • Representation of women in local self-government, Sakrebulos and gender balance in Georgia.