CEC Response to Ruling Party List Submission Controversy
Central Election Commission (CEC) issued a statement on April 24 recounting its version of events surrounding a controversy over submission of the ruling party’s list of MP candidates.
At a pre-planned session of the CEC, which started at 7pm (an hour after the deadline of submission of party-lists expired) a CEC member from the Republican Party demanded to see the ruling party’s list, according to the statement. It said that in a response Levan Tarkhnishvili, the chairman of CEC, explained to the opposition CEC member that the room (belonging to the CEC unit in charge of registration issues) where the party-lists were filed, was already locked. After that four opposition members of the CEC walked out the session in protest, the CEC said in the statement.
After the session was over, it continued, leaders of various opposition parties accompanied by “large number of supporters have broken into the CEC building” and “actually besieged it.” They were demanding to see the party list of the National Movement, the statement reads.
After heated dispute between the opposition and CEC members and representatives of the ruling party an agreement was reached to show the ruling party’s list in presence of only election observers and CEC members, including of those from the opposition parties.
According to the CEC statement, the opposition leaders were initially demanding to unlock the “archives room” because “the opposition had information that the lists were there.”
“After it turned out that the lists were not filed in that room, the opposition voiced new accusation that they were deliberately misinformed about the location of the lists that enabled the National Movement to replace the party-list,” the CEC statement said.
The CEC said that all the lists submitted by all the parties and blocs in fact was filed in another room and the safe where the lists were was opened in presence of election observers and everyone had a chance to witness that the lists were filed in the sealed binders.
