Watchdog Groups on Pre-Election Situation

Four watchdog groups, observing electoral process, issued a joint statement on May 19, outlining set of most widespread violations observed during the pre-election period.

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA); New Generation-New Initiative (nGnI); Transparency International–Georgia and International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) said in the statement that public servants were “actively participating in the ruling party’s election campaign… both during conducting official duties and during the free time.” It also said that provincial governors were especially actively engaged in the campaigning.

The election code distinguishes between political officials and other public servants; whereas the former are permitted to campaign while conducting official duties, the latter are prohibited from doing so and are only able to campaign when not conducting official duties.

Cases of vote buying and pledges of financial benefit “have been frequent” by majoritarian MP candidates of the ruling party, according to the statement.

Cases of intimidation have increased in last ten days, the statement says. This included intimidation of public school teachers, opposition majoritarian MP candidates, as well as on some businessmen and local observers, according to the statement.

According to the governmental inter-agency group on elections, during the meeting between the deputy education minister and representatives from local and international NGOs and international organizations on May 14 only three cases of alleged intimidation were handed over to the Ministry for further enquiry.

The statement by four election observer groups also noted that there have been fewer cases of collocation of voters’ ID numbers. “Such cases can be regarded as a psychological pressure,” it says.

The statement also notes lack of public trust towards the election administration.

“One of the important problems is lack of public confidence towards the election administration and electoral process,” the statement reads. “One of the reasons is that investigation into the cases of electoral violations observed during the January 5 presidential election is not yet completed.”

According to the governmental inter-agency group on elections three election officials have been convicted for the electoral fraud during presidential elections.

The election observer groups’ statement also notes about “aggressive form of protest” by some opposition parties.

“Situation has been strained for several times during the pre-election period after some opposition representatives resorted to violent form of protest,” the statement reads.

It was apparently referring to an incident which took place on May 1 when the nine-party opposition bloc leaders led a march to the Central Election Commission, which resulted in a scuffle with the police.