Opposition Ahead in Exit Polls

Saakashvili started celebration before  announcement of official results.

The exit poll results of the November 2 parliamentary elections suggest that the opposition parties would gain most of the votes in the new 235-seat Parliament.

According to the exit poll results, conducted by the U.S. polling firm Global Strategy Group, the radical opposition to President Shevardnadze, the National Movement, led by Mikheil Saakashvili received 20,8% support, 7% more than the pro-governmental For New Georgia bloc, led by Eduard Shevardnadze.

The exit polls suggest that along with the National Movement and the For New Georgia blocs, the opposition Labor Party with 12,8% and the opposition Burjanadze-Democrats – 7,6% could clear the 7% barrier, needed to secure seats in the Parliament. However, with 21% of the respondents refusing to participate in the polling, the results are far from certain and could change overnight.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) started tabulation of the election results at 4:00 am on November 3. However votes only from up to 70 precincts out of 2,870 were counted by that time. 

Representatives of the pro-presidential bloc are skeptical regarding the exit poll results and hope that the official results would be more successful for them. “It is still early to comment on election results. Let’s see what will happen tomorrow,” Tamaz Giorgadze of For New Georgia bloc said on November 2.

Some observers suggest that the official results might be completely different from the exit poll results. “The threats of the pro-presidential bloc “let’s see what will happen tomorrow” makes me think that the official results might be different,” Ghia Nodia of think-tank Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development said.

President Shevardnadze said while casting ballot on November 2 that “opposition has good chances to succeed in the elections.”

Burjanadze calls on opposition for  cooperation

Parliamentary Chairperson and leader of Burjanadze-Democrats election bloc Nino Burjanadze said on November 3, while commenting the result of the exit polls, “it is evident that the opposition won the elections. It means that we will leave in different Georgia.”

“I call on the opposition parties to cooperate to defend our votes. I call the opposition to create a coalition in the Parliament,” Nino Burjanadze said in the live broadcast in the Rustavi 2 TV Channel.

However she added, while commenting the exit poll result, “I am rather optimistic about the [Burjanadze-Democrats] bloc’s performance in the elections, than this survey suggests.”

Crucial Elections Marked by Disorganization

Voters queued to vote, however thousands  could not find themselves on the voter lists

Thousands of voters could not cast a ballot due to disorganized November 2 parliamentary elections. Observers say the voting was marked with numerous procedural violations, raids on polling stations, mess in voter lists and violence against the observers.

In Tbilisi, as well as in a number of regions and villages of Georgia, voters were queuing up in front of the polling stations to cast the ballot. However, many of them failed to do it, since their names were not included on the lists.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) revised regulation on voter lists for two times on November 2 causing further confusion among the voters and precinct administrations.

With the final decision the CEC called on the voters to appeal the district election commission, where the members of the commissions and representatives of the Interior Ministry were double-checking the data for those voters missing from the list and restoring their voting right. Only after this procedure a voter could return to the precinct and cast a vote.

The members of the CEC from the opposition have criticized the decision saying it was pointless to change the rules only three hours before the end of elections.

The CEC in the evening on November 2 decided to prolong elections in capital city Tbilisi for an hour and in Kutaisi, Georgia’s second-largest city for four hours, because the polling stations in Tbilisi and almost all of the polling stations in Kutaisi were opened hours late.

Many voters could not find thier names  on the voter lists.

As a result of mess in the voter lists and the confusing decisions of the electoral commission, thousands of voters across the country turned away from the polling stations.

“I wanted to participate in the elections, but we could not, since we were not included on the lists. I have no time to restore my name on the list. I know, that I am not behaving well, but I have no other way,” Tbilisite voter Tsiuri Topuridze told Civil Georgia.

“I was standing in the line for an hour, but in vain. When I finally entered the precinct I found out that my name was missing from the voter lists,” another Tbilisite voter says.

The opposition says mess in the voter lists was part of authorities’ campaign to rig the vote to limit the scale of the government’s defeat.

“Inaccurate voter lists were deliberately put forward by the authorities. The elections were disorganized and unfair,” Giorgi Gabashvili of the Burjanadze-Democrats opposition election alliance said.

“Today, all day long, the voters were fighting against the government to defend their voting rights,” Koba Davitashvili of the Saakashvili-National Movement election alliance said.

However the authorities are confident that the elections were held in “the normal conditions.” State Minister and leader of the pro-presidential election bloc Avtandil Jorbenadze said, while casting ballot that “the elections are being held without any incidents.”

“There are up to 3,000 precincts around Georgia and of course there might be some minor violations in some of the precincts, however overall situation is quite normal,” another leader of the alliance For New Georgia Vakhtang Rcheulishvili said.

Nana Devdariani, the Chairperson of the CEC also said that she “is satisfied with overall election process. This was much better than the previous elections in Georgia.” “It is very difficult to organize good elections, when the Election Code was adopted couple of months before the election day,” she added.

The election watchdog organizations have harshly criticized the election process. The election observer NGO International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), which deployed up to 3,000 observers around Georgia, expressed for several times during November 2 concerns over “the numerous violations at the polling stations that hamper the process of normal voting.”

As ISFED reports, the observers were forced to leave the polling stations in several regions of Georgia, particularly in Tkibuli, Ninotsminda, Marneuli and Gardabani. In Tkibuli an ISFED observer was severely beaten. Tina Khidasheli of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), NGO which also monitored November 2 elections, said their observers access to in Kazreti constituency, Kvemo Kartli region was hampered.

According to GYLA and ISFED, the most of procedural violations are reported in Kvemo Kartli region in southern Georgia. Two observers were detained in Batumi and Kobuleti, Adjarian Autonomous Republic, and were released only after couple of hours.

Voters were marked with special ink to  prevent multiple voting.

Observers also reported that the policemen cast ballot for several times in the deferent precincts in Tbilisi. “The law enforcers are actively engaged in so-called “merry-go-round” when one person casts ballot for several times,” Tina Khidasheli of GYLA said.

Khidasheli also stated that the observers reported several cases, when the policemen were not marked. According to the newly introduced procedure voters are marked with special ink to prevent multiple voting.

So called “merry-go-round” tactics of ballot fraud, during which one person casts vote several times at different polling stations are known as one of the most widespread violations used by various parties during the past elections in Georgia.

The mood became tenser on November 2 when the Interior Ministry deployed riot police rapid reaction units in Rustavi, city near Tbilisi, Zugdidi, western Georgia and Mtskheta, near Tbilisi. Reports said the chairman of one of the polling stations was beaten up and the ballot boxes were broken in several precincts.

Rustavi is an administrative center of Kvemo Kartli region, a stronghold of the pro-presidential alliance. Opposition parties have warned of the possibility of vote rigging in the area.  Several violent incidents were recorded in the province during the election campaign.

The statement of the State Security Minister Valeri Khaburdzania added fuel to the tensions. He said at a news briefing on November 2 that an armed attack was planned on an election day. Khaburdzania evaluated planned attack as an “attempted coup.”

He said a large deposit of weapons was found this morning near Tbilisi, which included the hand-grenades, firearms, and explosives.

“As far as we know, an attack on the State Chancellery [President’s administration] was planned. It was also planned to organize explosions at several precincts to destabilize situation on the election day,” Valerie Khaburdzania said.

Khaburdzania also said they have information about another arms cache near Tbilisi, “however it is not discovered yet.”

Security Minister did not clarify who was behind the attempted coup. Khaburdzania said that “former members of the military groups were involved.”

Zurab Chiaberashvili of the ISFED said late in the evening on November 2 that despite numerous violations, “we still have a chance to save these elections, as vote tabulation process is still a head.”

The ISFED conducts the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) on November 2 parliamentary elections for the first time in Georgia. PVT is believed to be the one of the measures to prevent manipulation of election results. The PVT results will be known approximately at 4 p.m.