Press Releases

Key findings

Based on the information obtained from ISFED observers, the organization concludes that the voting process across the country was, on the whole, conducted in a peaceful environment, in line with the legal requirements. However, there were some trends that negatively affected the election day environment. In particular, there were multiple cases of violations of the secrecy of voting, several instances of voting without proper documentation, as well as voting without the inking procedure and without checking of the inking. On some occasions, registrars did not collect voter signatures. There were cases of violations of handing of ballot papers. Violation of the rights of ISFED’s observers was commonplace; this mainly manifested in creating a hostile environment for observers. Such facts have occured from the moment the polling stations were opened and have taken place on a continuous basis.

Outside the polling stations, ISFED observers observed cases of voters being transported to the polling station. At some polling stations, there were lengthy gatherings of party coordinators, NGO representatives and/or unidentified individuals near the polling station premises, both within and beyond the 100 meter range. Persons present outside of the polling stations were communicating with voters. At some polling stations tracking (e.g. marking of voters’ names) was observed. There were several instances of vote-buying in the vicinity of polling stations. Cases of verbal insults targeting ISFED observers were also reported.

 

Detailed information on the voting process by 20:00 from PVT Results

According to the PVT results, the following preliminary voter turnout statistics were reported:

• Preliminary turnout across the country by 20:00 is 51.3%, (with a margin of error of +/-0.9%), which is an increase from the 2017 local elections, when turnout by 20:00 was 45.7%;
• Preliminary turnout in Tbilisi is 48.6% (with a margin of error of +/-0.9%), which is an increase compared to the 2017 local elections when turnout by 20:00 was 43.4%;
• In the regions, preliminary turnout is 52.5% (with a margin of error of +/- 1.1%), which is an increase from the 2017 local elections, when turnout by 20:00 was 46.5%. 

 

According to the national PVT:

• At 99.0% of polling stations, voters presented proper voter identification before voting, which is a slight improvement compared to the  2017 local elections (97.4%); 
• At 98.8% of polling stations, inking was checked in accordance with the law, which is statistically similar to the 2017 local elections (97.3%);  
• At 98.6% of polling stations, ballot papers were properly signed and stamped, which is statistically similar to the 2017 local elections (99.3%); 
• At the 98.8% of polling stations, voters were properly inked, which is statistically similar to the corresponding figure from the 2017 local elections (99.7%). 
• At 97.8% of polling stations, the secrecy of vote was upheld. This is statistically similar to the corresponding figure from the 2017 local elections (98%);
• At 98.7% of polling stations, there were no instances of physical violence/intimidation, which is statistically similar to the 2017 elections (99%).

 

According to the Tbilisi PVT: 

• At 99.4% of polling stations, voters presented proper voter identification before voting.
• At 99.4% of polling stations, inking was checked in accordance with the law.
• At 96.4% of polling stations, ballot papers were properly signed and stamped.
• At 98.5% of polling stations, voters were properly inked.
• At 96.7% of polling stations, the secrecy of vote was upheld.
• At 97.9% of polling stations, there were no instances of physical violence/intimidation.

 

 

Violations in the voting process

As of now, ISFED observers identified the following violations: 

 

Alleged vote-buying (1) 

• At the polling station #13 of the electoral district #27 (Mtskheta), the fact of vote-buying has been reported. Namely, the representative of the Georgian Dream was distributing money outside of the polling station. 

Violations in the inking procedure (4) 

• At the polling station #34 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), the registrar commission member didn’t ink two voters. Ath the same time, the registrar neglected the observer’s notice regarding the issue and the chairperson referred the registrar with the verbal remark; 
• At the polling station #11 of the electoral district #8 (Didube), in minimum three cases, the registrar commission member did not ink the voter. Commission chairperson urged the registrar to comply with the inking procedures;  
• At the polling stations #10 of the electoral districts #16, there was a rational doubt a voter casted vote not only once. Observer urged the commission chairperson to check whether the voter had already been inked or not. Chairperson responded that the voter had been inked and the doublecheck wasn’t necessary. The chairperson confronted the DEC member too. After the escalation, inking procedure was conducted and thus the ground for checking whether the voter had been previously inked or not, lost its significance; 
• At the polling station #6 of the electoral district #22 (Marneuli), voters were allowed to vote without being inked or without being checked whether they were inked or not.

 

Power outage  (3) 

• At the polling station #64 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), power outage was reported for 20-25 minutes, which halted the vote casting procedure. However, the process was renewed immediately after the power returned; 
• At the polling station #81 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), power outage was reported, though it did not obstruct the voting process and as the candles were provided by the DEC members. Power supply was renewed in around 15 minutes. 
• At the polling station #15 of the electoral district #20 (Rustavi), power outage halted the voting process. 

 

Unauthorized persons at the polling stations (1) 

• At the polling station #15 of the electoral district #16 (Kvareli), several unauthorized persons were noticed, trying to offer their opinion to the voters. Despite multiple notices, the chairperson did not expel unauthorized persons from the polling station. Aldo, motion of drunk voters were observed at the polling station. Commission members and unauthorized person create hostile environment for ISFED’s observer. 

Violations related to the voters list  (2) 

• At the polling station #39 of the electoral district  #67, (Zugdidi), commission member was included in the special list of voters, though the commission member showed up at the #39 polling station and cast the voter through the table version of the list; 
• At the polling station #21 of the electoral district #66 (khobi), number of ballot papers released by one of the registrar exceeded the number of signatures in the voters list. 

Errors in the video recording rule (1) 

• At the polling station #45 of the electoral subject #22 (Marneuli), number of voters in the list exceeded 300 but the video recording device utilized for vote count procedure, is not placed at the polling station. 

Violations of the vote count procedure (1) 

• At the polling station #9 of the electoral districts #81, 9 commission members included in the special list of voters, participated in the majoritarian elections of Sakrebulo. Thus, at this polling station, a candidate running in the majoritarian race received 9 more votes. 

 

Violations/trends observed outside the polling stations (13:00-19:00)

Alleged vote buying

• At the polling station #16 of the electoral district #22 (Marneuli), an unidentified individual handed out money to a voter. Both left the premises shortly;
• At the polling station #48 of the electoral district #7 (Chugureti), a Georgian Dream representative handed out money to a voter.

Tracking of voters

• At the polling station #3 of the electoral district #79 (Batumi), an unidentified individual who had a list, was asking voters whether they cast their votes of not;
• At the polling station #19 of the electoral district #6 (Samgori), at the polling station #49 of the electoral district #58 (Tskaltubo), at the polling station #35 of the electoral district #9 (Nadzaladevi), at the polling station #5 of the electoral district #17 (Telavi), there was a group of people taking note of the observers who had come to cast their votes. In most cases, they had voters lists at hand;
• At the polling station #49 of the electoral district #58 (Tskaltubo), individuals sitting in a car were taking note of the voters who had cast their votes;
• At the polling station #35 of the electoral district #9 (Nadzaladevi), there was a case of a person standing at the entrance taking note of the observers who had cast their votes;
• At the polling station #5 of the electoral district #17 (Telavi), persons gathered at the polling station had lists with voters’ names. They were in active communication with voters;
• At the polling station #102 of the electoral district #10 (Gldani), coordinators of the following parties – Georgian Dream, UNM and For Georgia – were taking note of the observers who had cast their votes;
• At the polling station #15 of the electoral district #39 (Aspindza), an unidentified individual was taking note of the observers who had cast their votes.

Voter mobilization

• At the polling station #24 of the electoral district #51 (Zestaponi), at the polling station #24 of the electoral district #33 (Kareli), at the polling station #49 of the electoral district #58 (Tskaltubo), at the polling station #58 of the electoral district #56 (Chiatura), at the polling station #1 of the electoral district #32 (Gori), at the polling station #65 of the electoral district #21 (Gardabani), and at the polling station #12 of the electoral district #59 (Kutaisi) there were multiple cases of transportation of voters to polling stations;
• At the polling station #33 of the electoral district #5 (Isani), there is a group of individuals observing voters;
• At the polling station #49 of the electoral district #6 (Samgori), there was a group of people who managed to bring in up to 10 voters to the polling station;
• At the polling station #75 of the electoral district #2 (Vake), there was a person who was mobilizing voters and accompanying them to the polling station;
• At the polling station #30 of the electoral district #83 (Khelvachauri), beyond the 100 meter range, there was a group of individuals speaking about the necessity of mobilizing voters due to low turnout and talking on the phone;
• At the polling station #58 of the electoral district #60 (Ozurgeti), two people were having a conversation, saying they managed to mobilize two voters.

Campaigning

• At the polling station #29 of the electoral district #30 (Kaspi), two persons standing beyond the 100 meter range were calling on the voters to vote for the Georgian Dream.
• At the polling station #60 of the electoral district #20 (Rustavi), there were representative of the Georgian Dream, UNM and For Georgia parties outside the 100 meter range. They were handing out campaign materials to the voters who had come to cast their votes;
• At the polling station #30 of the electoral district #16 (Kvareli), people standing outside the polling station premises were calling voters on the phone and asking them to vote. One of them urged voters to vote for the Georgian Dream.

Campaign material

• At the polling station #44 of the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), campaign materials of “Giorgi Laghidze - Future Georgia” were displayed within 15 meters from the polling station.

Verbal insults and confrontation

• At the polling station #1 of the electoral district #32 (Gori), a person authorized to be present at the polling station verbally insulted ISFED’s observer. Later, the observer found out that the person was affiliated with the Georgian Dream.

Gathering within the 100 meter range

•   At the polling station #38 of the electoral district #22 (Batumi), #68 of the electoral district #20 (Rustavi), #48 the electoral district #7 (Chugureti), #18 the electoral district #60 (Ozurgeti), #30 the electoral district #16 (Kvareli), #44 the electoral district #3 (Saburtalo), #15 the electoral district #39 (Aspindza), and #14 the electoral district #11 (Sagarejo) there were groups of unidentified individuals standing for a long period of time on the spot;
•   At the polling station #33 of the electoral district #67 (Zugdidi), some persons gathered near the polling station were communicating with voters after they had cast their votes;
•   At the polling station #21 of the electoral district #66 (Khobi), Georgian Dream MP Dachi Beraia was present at the polling station, along with 7-10 persons.

Gathering beyond the 100 meter range 

• At the polling station #33 of the electoral district #67 (Zugdidi), unidentified individuals sitting in a car were present for a long period of time. They were communicating on the phone.

Control of voters beyond the 100 meter range

• At the polling station #4 of the electoral district #62 (Chokhatauri), there was a car parked in around 300 meters from the polling stations, purportedly with party coordinators taking notes on who had come to cast their voters. They were also calling other persons and asking to vote in the elections.

Mobilization of coordinators

• At the polling station #56 of the electoral district #20 (Rustavi), there was a gathering of people (purportedly, party representatives). One of them was communicating with the Georgian Dream proxy and was taking notes on who had come to cast their votes;
• At the polling station #49 of the electoral district #6 (Samgori), Georgian Dream coordinator was talking to voters after they had cast their votes.

Suspicious activities

• At the polling station #16 of the electoral district #22 (Marneuli), majority of voters who had cast their votes were entering the building across the polling station premises, which reportedly houses the offices of the mayoral representative to village Akhkerpi. People entering the building stayed there for around 30 minutes. A commission secretary visited the places as well.

Other trends

• At the polling station #19 of the electoral district #6 (Samgori), the PEC chairperson left the polling station periodically and was reporting information on voter turnout on the phone. In one of these conversations, the chairperson said “as far as I know, we have 300 persons”;
• At the polling station #75 of the electoral district #2 (Vake), there was a person who was talking to voters and was accompanying them to the polling room;
• At the polling station #25 of the electoral district #8 (Didube), there was an unidentified individual talking frequently on the phone.

 

Complaints (200) and statements (40)

ISFED observers have filed 104 complaints at precinct election commissions, 95 complaints at district election commissions and 56 entries in the record book. One complaint was filed with the CEC. 

 

Information on the monitoring mission

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) is monitoring the October 2, 2021 Municipal elections in all electoral districts across Georgia (excluding the occupied territories). 

ISFED’s election day observation mission consists of around 1,000 accredited and trained observers deployed at polling stations, 73 observers deployed at district electoral commissions and 78 mobile groups. This year, ISFED is also observing the outside perimeter of polling stations with 121 observers. ISFED operates data and incident processing centers at its headquarters, with 20 operators and 21 lawyers, respectively. 

ISFED’s observation of the Municipal elections is based on the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology, where PVT observers are deployed to a statistically sound, nationally representative sample of polling stations throughout the country. PVT observers are also deployed to a representative sample of polling stations in Tbilisi. The outside monitoring effort employs an identical methodology. The PVT methodology enables ISFED to quickly detect violations, systematically evaluate the quality of the entire voting process, and verify the accuracy of official results. 

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

The final statement will be issued on October 3, 2021. 

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 Government of the United Kingdom.