The monitoring mission, “My Voice”, demands that the Central Election Commission Chairman, Giorgi Kaandarishvili and its deputy, Giorgi Sharabidze, as well as the Secretary of CEC, Giorgi Jakhishvili, be held legally responsible.
Londa Toloraia stated in the briefing that the persons mentioned played an important role in the implementation of “Georgian Dream’s” large-scale plan to falsify the October 26th parliamentary elections.
According to her, in particular, the CEC failed to fulfill its promise that, on election day, the quality and quantity of the ballots would ensure the secrecy. The election day ballots are printed on thin paper which allows people to identify the choices of the voters at all electronic voting stations. Toloraia claims that the CEC’s decision/action on the day of elections allowed the ruling party a large-scale control of the will of voters, both through the election commission members and the use of video cameras near voting booths and counting machines.
“CEC also illegally, arbitrarily, and unjustifiably altered the rules established by Election Code two months, nine days, before the election, without public discussion and consultation with the parties involved, and instead determining the function as registrars through lots on the day before the election, it determined the deadline to hold the said lots one week before the election. This change made it impossible for most monitoring organizations to observe the process. The CEC also changed the procedure to appoint the people who work with the verification machines, and to determine their identity one week earlier. This made it easier to influence and subjugate the persons performing this role to the ruling party’s interests.
The same decision by the CEC led to the Precinct Election Commission members being given these functions in an opaque manner. We remind the public of the fact that the lack of security of the marking rule on election day was a major factor in the success of the fraud scheme. The lack of marking made it possible for someone to vote using someone else’s ID and personal number.
The CEC had also promised that the observation of the verification would not be interrupted. However, on the day the voting took place, the opposite was true: the registration tables were glued to the walls in such a manner that the observers could not fully observe the process. The commission members told our observers that they could not observe the verification process from behind the machines. In some cases, our observers were deliberately expelled to observe the verification process.
There are indications that the ruling parties voted for persons who were not in Georgia or at the registration address. This type of large-scale scheme would be impossible to implement without the involvement of the election administration. The CEC’s decision to not open any additional precincts outside of Georgia increased the number citizens who were unable to participate in the election. This decision by the CEC contributed towards the plan of ruling party to vote for others instead of those who were not in Georgia or at the registration address.
On election day it was reported that some voters were not allowed vote because they were on the list of transfer boxes and had already voted. According to information provided to monitoring organization, the officials went to their apartments to represent the election administration, and promised to enter their portable ballot boxes into the lists, and bring their portable ballot boxes to their homes on election day. However, they failed to bring their portable ballot boxes with them on election day and were therefore restricted from voting. Most likely, they were voted for by other people.
In precincts abroad, in cities with a high number of immigrant votes, the voting process was held amid faulty infrastructure and inadequate registrars. This put the entire electoral process in danger – many voters could not vote and the health of observers, commission members, and voters were also at risk. ;
According to information reported by opposition parties and media, it has been established that the election administration appointed family members of representatives of the “Georgian Dream”, and their related people as members and chairs of the Precinct Election Commission. It is now becoming apparent that the purpose of the staffing the precinct election commissions was to implement an extensive falsification scheme. The members of the commission stopped the observation organizations from conducting observations. The monitoring mission reported that they were aggressive and insulted the observation organizations verbally and physically. They also became angry when complaints were made. They encouraged the presence of unauthorised persons at the voting station, registered and monitored the voters, and transferred voter data to so-called “call centres” of the ruling parties.
According to “My Voice”, on election day, there was widespread information about voting using other people’s IDs and personal numbers, malfunctioning verification processes, violations of marking procedures, malfunctioning marking fluid and flashlights, and many facts of violence towards representatives of observation organizations. According to “My Voice”, neither the chairman of CEC nor the members of the commission or relevant services reacted to the violations. This raises the question of whether the CEC was satisfied with the events at the precincts.
“It is important to note that, according to information circulated by the media about the CEC, it had granted accreditation to Russian propaganda media. This included the Russian propagandist, Alexander Malkevich who was accredited by NTV and who violated Georgia’s law “On Occupied Territories”. The USA special services are looking for him on charges of interfering with the American elections. A reward of $10 million dollars has also been set. The secretary of CEC is responsible to accredit the CEC.
We remind the public of the fact that the ruling party changed a law to allow Giorgi Kaandarishvili as the chairman of CEC. This was criticized by international organizations. As can be seen, Giorgi Kaandarishvili’s presence in this position was crucial for the ruling party to pursue its interests during the election period.
The analysis of video footage from the CEC sessions confirms the involvement of CEC Chairman Giorgi Kaandarishvili and his deputy Giorgi Sharabide, as well as CEC Secretary Giorgi Jakhishvili in illegal decisions that were made to facilitate the desired scheme.
We are aware that it is impossible to conduct an effective investigation when all state institutions including the investigative services are under the control of ruling party. However, in this case, the crime of abuse of official authority under article 332 of the Criminal Code of Georgia is combined with election crimes (162 (obstructing exercise of will during elections), 164(violation of secrecy of votes), 164 sec. (participation to elections on the basis of a forged document), 164 tertia, (falsifications of elections), and 164 (4)(influencing the will of a voter). We therefore appeal to the prosecutor to open an investigation into the fact that the CEC representatives committed an official crime.
The CEC was not the only state agency involved in this massive election fraud scheme. The “My Voice” mission continued to work in different directions and will continue to provide information to the public.
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