Watchdog Speaks of “Intense Polarization” ahead of Pre-election Campaign, Other Challenges

On September 4, the International Society for Fair Elections And Democracy (ISFED) published the Pre-election Monitoring Report for the Unofficial Campaign Period of the 2024 Parliamentary Elections, which covers the period from June 1 until August 27, the date marking the official start of the pre-election campaign in Georgia. Topics covered in the report include polarization in the country, controversial changes to the election rules, the Central Election Commission’s awareness campaigns, political donations, etc.

The watchdog says that the official pre-election campaign started in the context of “intense polarization,” exacerbated by the ruling party’s promise to outlaw the main opposition groups should the Georgian Dream win the constitutional majority, by the adoption of the Foreign Agents Law, and by the intimidation campaign against the government critics.

The watchdog notes that the adoption of the Foreign Agents legislation was accompanied by strengthening of the officials’ anti-Western rhetoric through the conspiracy theories, leading to the “distinctively negative” reactions from the western partners, and the review of their relations with Georgia.

The watchdog also criticizes the amendments to the rules of procedure of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia, which provide that if a decision of the CEC requiring the support of at least two-thirds of its full members can’t be adopted at a meeting of the CEC, it shall be subject to a new vote at the same meeting and deemed adopted if it receives the support of a majority of the full members of the CEC. According to ISFED, “changes reduce the possibility of consensus-based decision-making.”

Speaking of the Central Election Commission, the ISFED also mentions the certification of the electoral authorities as well as members and heads of the precinct commissions, which was “mainly” well-conducted with a few exceptions. In some instances, the ISFED says, supervisors prompted test-takers to the correct answers. The watchdog also identified one incident when a test-taker passed with the supervisor’s assistance. “There were cases when the participants were not informed about the exam and thought they were going to attend a training,” the watchdog also notes.

The watchdog also speaks of discrepancies in the CEC’s awareness campaigns about the new election technologies. As an example, the organization argues that in numerous instances its accredited observers’ ability to monitor the election simulations was hindered.

“In two electoral districts of Tbilisi and in another 20 municipalities they were not given the opportunity to fully observe [the process].” The report says that in some cases the organization’s observers were asked to leave the building on the grounds that the mock voting procedure did not envisage observation, according to ISFED.

The ISFED notes that the majority of the people who were participating in the process were public servants as well as people employed in budget institutions such as school and kindergarten teachers. According to the watchdog, part of them were not informed about the process they were participating in. Also, ISFED notes that “In a number of municipalities, there were cases where citizens said that they had been instructed by the coordinators and/or higher officials of the ruling party to come and participate in the process.”

The watchdog also criticizes the CEC’s August 16 decree stipulating that each precinct election commission must draw lots to distribute duties among commission members one week before the election, rather than on election day as previously required. The ISFED believes it is against the Georgian law, puts the commission members independence and impartiality at risk, makes them vulnerable to pressure, and makes monitoring difficult.

As for the activities of the opposition parties, the watchdog identified interference and violence impacting opposition’s pre-election campaigns. The recorded issues include difficulties in renting office space and attacks on their offices. The watchdog also identified five cases of alleged vote buying, with three of them linked to the Georgian Dream, and two to the opposition.

The report also mentions political donations, which amounted to GEL 7,395,731 [USD 2,749,684] during the reporting period, of which more than 84% went to the ruling party. The report also talks about the announcement of large-scale state projects by the government in this period.

The report says that the total of seven media organizations were fined/warned by the National Communications Commission for placing political/pre-election campaign advertisements in violation of the rules and norms.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)