NDI, IRI International Observer Mission Preliminary Assessment of Georgian Elections
On October 27, the International Election Observation Mission of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) presented their preliminary findings and recommendations on the October 26 election process.
NDI’s Statement
The preliminary statement by NDI says that although polling stations were generally calm and organized, “citizen observers reported a significant increase in serious violations from the previous elections including violence, voter intimidation and instances of ballot stuffing.”
It further states that “It is clear that the pre-election period failed to meet fundamental standards for democratic elections.” It further notes that the government’s passage of the Agents’ law labeling civic actors as foreign agents and its campaign to intimidate dissenting opinion “generated a climate of fear” noting also that “ruling party leaders also threatened to criminalize opposition political parties.”
The statement notes that “a fragmented, politicized media environment limited voters’ access to impartial information.” and that “the ruling party had a disproportionate influence on this environment given its control over state media as well as privately held channels.”
NDI statement states that “The pre-election period was also compromised by widespread threats, harassment, and in some cases violence, affecting voters, activists, and political actors, and their families.”
Noting that “throughout election day, reports from citizen observers provided valuable information to support our observation findings” the statement reads that “On election day, citizen observers witnessed widespread violations of the neutrality zone around polling stations by gatherings of ruling party figures and unauthorized persons” as well as intimidation of voters. Citizen observers also reported an increase in critical incidents, including violence against observers, voters and party representatives.
“The Georgian people have clearly expressed the value they place on their democratic path. Georgian political actors must move beyond their winner-take-all mentality and commit to pluralism to advance this path. Georgia’s governing party carries a special responsibility in this respect,” said Dr. Tamara Cofman Wittes, NDI’s President. “The government must maintain political neutrality, allow peaceful protests, and protect the ability of all Georgians to participate in political life.”
The NDI observation mission believes it is urgent and essential for Georgian stakeholders to address electoral integrity shortcomings and rebuild public confidence. The organization also offers recommendations to promote pluralism and inclusive elections in the country in its preliminary statement, “in the spirit of international cooperation.”
The NDI observers also emphasized: “We have seen claims and counterclaims regarding the election’s outcome, including legitimate concerns about the fairness of the overall election process. The primary domestic observer group, The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), is still finalizing the detailed report of its parallel vote tabulation, which we urge everyone to respect. We have great confidence in this methodology, which has been used in more than fifty countries, and in the integrity and care with which ISFED is carrying it out.”
Read the full preliminary assessment here.
IRI Statement
The statement says that the government “undertook unprecedented political and legal changes that constrained political competition,” citing in particular the adoption of the Foreign Agent Law.
The cited legal changes include also the altering of the composition of the Election Commission (CEC), including the abolishment of the opposition-nominated deputy chairperson and a lower threshold for consensus-based decision-making across all commissions, adding that for the above reasons, the “trust in the independence and impartiality of the CEC is abysmally low.”
The statement talks of the use of state resources by the ruling party to “boost resources to boost its campaign and suppress voter turnout, including using local government officials to do their political bidding.” The document underlines the use of civil service and social assistance “to influence people to support the ruling party and/or to stigmatize support for other parties.”
Examples of misuse of state resources include the utilization of short-term employment contracts, the launch of new state-funded projects shortly before the ban on similar activities 60 days prior to the election day.
Further, the statement states that “amendments to the Law on Political Union of Citizens (LPU) did not allow parties to receive donations from legal entities or to form pre-election blocs, forcing candidates to abandon their own party to join a unified list. Given Georgia’s fragmented opposition landscape and a threshold of one percent of votes to obtain public political party financing, these changes created a disincentive for smaller parties to unite and to compete to win seats.”
The media landscape is characterized as “heavily biased toward GD,” with the ruling party narrative dominating the airtime, while opposition parties “struggle to gain equal media access” and independent media outlets have faced harassment.
The document raises concerns about the voter registration system, referring to the residency requirement maintained by the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the parliament, which is deemed “an unnecessary and arbitrary criterion for the parliamentary elections.” This arrangement also means that the system is “vulnerable to potential technical manipulation.”
Regarding the actual election day, the statement highlights 22 “critical incidents” spanning across Samegrelo and Zemo-Svaneti, Kakheti, Imereti, and Mtshketa-Mtianeti, as well as Tbilisi and Kvemo Kartli.
Pressure, intimidation, and harassment of voters are cited as the most prevalent forms of violation, taking place both inside and outside polling stations. The findings further claim that, in “isolated instances,” cases of vote buying, ballot stuffing, and attempts at multiple voting also occurred.
The statement also reads that certain domestic observer groups experienced “intimidation and interference in the course of their work, in some cases being ejected from polling stations.” Among the critical incidents have been captured are also cases of violence between the representatives of ruling and opposition parties and “brazen attempts at ballot stuffing.”
The statement stresses the problem of ballot secrecy “due to the prevalence of Georgian Dream video cameras within polling stations, reinforcing concerns raised by citizens regarding intimidation inside and outside polling stations.“
As for closing and counting procedures, the preliminary observation positively evaluates the electronic system, stating that vote counting machines “functioned well” without any significant discrepancies hindering the counting process. However, IRI notes that “several interlocutors noted potential continued vulnerabilities for coordinated manipulation of the results tabulation process, noting that “the new technology does not prevent manipulation since, by law, the manual count supersedes the electronic count on election day.” The interlocutors were concerned that the partisan nature of PEC staff appointments increased susceptibility to manipulate the manual count.
IRI notes that “CEC did not conduct sufficient voter education following the adoption of new technologies which led to concerns that the new scanner system may allow the government to monitor votes. Thus, the rollout of electronic voting systems aimed at improving transparency was met with skepticism, especially in Georgia’s rural and minority regions.”
The delegation, which included 22 short-term and six long-term observers from 15 countries, was led by the Honorable Tom Malinowski, former United States Congressman and former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Ambassador Per Eklund, former European Union Ambassador to Georgia; and Dr. Tamara Cofman Wittes, NDI’s President.
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