According to Giorgi Kalandarishvili the Chairman of the Central Election Commission on the 26th of October, a total 15,000 machines had been used, and only 20 of them were not working.
He said in today’s press briefing that despite the failure of the machines there was no need to switch back to the traditional voting process at precincts.
“The introduction and implementation of electronic technologies into the Georgian election process was successful.” Nearly two years of tireless effort by the election administration have yielded appropriate outcomes. We are proud to announce today that the planning and organization was done correctly at every stage. On the 26th of October, 15,000 machines were in use. Only 20 of them were not working. In all cases, it was still possible to continue the voting process using technology. There was no need to switch back to the traditional method of voting at any polling station.
According to current good practice, it is considered a positive result if 1% or more of the machines are not working during the voting process. In our case, the number was 0.1%. This is a very positive indicator. I would like thank all employees of the electoral administration for their contributions to the modernization of elections, and administration on a high level of professionalism.
An international auditing firm confirmed that electronic technologies were operating properly. We have submitted the official results of the first phase and second phase audits. They are unambiguously verified and, once translated, will be made public to all parties. The duplication of voter lists in the unified lists, particularly in the verification section, was one of the issues that were raised in a manipulative way. This is as unreasonable as a paper trail where lists were fully auditable, and voter lists were available to all parties. The American company has confirmed this today, pointing out how the technologies are in line with local legislation, international standards and good practices. I would like thank all parties involved, monitoring organizations, the media, and agencies that have cooperated with us in the process to organize the elections. The voters also adapted easily to the new technologies used in the elections, which is a testament to the effectiveness of our campaign to inform the administration about the elections, which we began a year-and-a-half before the elections. “I would like to thank voters for their high civic responsibility and active participation,” Kalandarishvili stated.
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