PARLIAMENTARY Elections in Rep. of Georgia a FARCE??
tootsie.in...@gmail.com
The answer seems a resoundant 'NO'!!!
May 21 2008 Zugdidi, Georgia
Parliamentary Election Day
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=18302
WATCH THE VIDEO, by Michael Ross McConnell, http://www.driveway.com/c1g5u0b9z1
[DAY OF REVOLT, TBILISI]
Many reports in at 10am, already, of vote rigging and non-
transparencies
“Far from democratic parliamentary process, nor a fair and balanced
election”, says Matthew L. Bryza
ONLY A FULLY RE-LOADED NEW PARLIAMENT
WILL BE THE BEST SHOT FOR THE FUTURE OF GEORGIA
by Matthew L. Bryza
Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
For the Future of Georgia !!
I believe Ms. Hammick, a reporter recently writing for JANE'S DEFENSE
WEEKLY, upon the upcoming election in Tbilisi, was practicing the art
of, as F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, of "the test of a first rate
intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at
the same time, and still retain the ability to function".
How so? She was evidently flipping through her mind the several
conflicting tentative dates set for the parliamentary elections,
starting back in late 2003. Since Nov. 23rd, 2003, when President
Saakashvili parachuted into his position as ruler of Georgia, and the
rarely clarified-in-the-media Georgian constitutional amendments,
made in December, 2005, most people are understandably deeply confused
and
divided on basic democratic procedures here, regarding efforts that
would help the majority of people, rather than propping up some cold
and abstract ideology in its stead, helping old insiders and new
“graspers,” only.
Here is a blurb from Freedom House back in mid 2005, to refresh your
memories of the jigsaw puzzle of parliamentary election procedures
here:
[First, Saakashvili and NED and the Liberty Institute set in train
the protests which brought him to power on 23rd November, 2003. Thus,
it
can be argued, that parliamentary elections should have been held in
Nov. of 2007.]
15.06.2005 - Source: Freedom House, ... the 2004 elections were
somewhat free and fair; however, the level of political pluralism had
been severely reduced, as no party could compete with National
Movement-Democrats
("Nations in Transit 2005") [#32929], [ID 4745]
"...the elections of 2004 were considered generally free and fair,
though voter lists were still not fully complete. There was no
harassment of the opposition. However, the level of political
pluralism was sharply reduced as the former ruling party completely
disbanded and no political group could compete with Mikhail
Saakashvili and his National Movement-Democrats.
Only one opposition bloc of the New Rights and Industrialists was able
narrowly to
overcome the 7 percent threshold for party lists."
Historical Margin Note #1 on Georgia before you read further:
Compared to Georgians and their 6 or 7 thousand year old fiercely
loyal and
family-relations-devoted traditions, how many Americans do you know
who actually continue to look after their old parents and older
grandparents and perhaps their great grandparents too, themselves?
Perhaps in the same household? These Georgians, all of them here,
would NEVER put an older family member into a rest home, or a Memory
Care Home or into a criminally overpriced USA-style and shamefully
profitable nursing/senior/memory care home, you know -- the kind of
racket in the States backed up in large measure by HHS/MEDICARE
political insiders, working along with State and Federal
congresspersons, to milk the tax systems bone dry!
These same Georgians are trying to use this familial passion and
commitment to
forge a new and democratic Parliament this May 21st, 2008, but the
likelihood of any success is as slender as the homeless of New
Orleans to get their property back via FEMA programs after Hurricane
Katrina.
The forces here preventing a true democracy in Georgia are the
identically same forces at work against them there in Louisiana and
Mississippi and Texas.
Margin Note #2--QUESTION: How many Americans
typically speak and read three languages and alphabets, and who work
anywhere from 10 to 25 hours a week overtime, with not even a tetri
[penny] of paid overtime, and who never complain about the total lack
of labor laws coming out of their Parliament??? Again, nearly zero.
These Georgians here have not yet been educated by their strictly
censored media, in any shape or form, upon labor laws or labor
rights, yet the USAID personnel here and the US embassy swear this is
a
"beacon of light" regarding fulfillment of democratic ideals!
A whole new team of concerned Georgians need to take over their
parliament, this May 21st, these citizens desperately need new
opposition forces deep in their Parliament, and not only the elites
and millionaire businessmen/women that they now have as MPs, and THEY
should be the 'new ones' to select a new president, if there is to be
any hope of true democracy here in Georgia any year soon.
click here http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2008/04/30927_en.pdf
[ for a full OSCE report on the unlikelihood of a fair and square
parliamentary election in Tbilisi on May 21, 2008 [HIGHLY
UNLIKELY] ]
A president such as "Misha" [short for Saakashvili], who galloped
into power overnight on the day quoted above, would be fairly tested
by
the people of his new democracy, if and only if, the people
themselves
gave him something like his report card grades after the last 4 long
years in which he could evaluate himself too, in careful and painful
self-examination. The result of a revitalizing and invigorating new
parliamentary election process, in which a `new batch of 2008
parliamentary MPs', not in any way part of Saakashvili's clan, nor
part of the current Opposition's clan, could and would implement
fresh and vigorous legislation and programs. If only they had been
allowed
to do so at the end of 2007, a global miracle would have been born –
a real beacon of light !!!
A real beacon of light, especially when one considers the helpful and
democracy-building funding from outside agencies of the last 4 years,
thanks to credits and currencies from the USAID, the EU, the UN,
SECO/ SDC, the German and Polish governments, et al, who have greatly
helped make many of the improvements the Georgians have desperately
needed,
after the mayhem and ugly scenarios following the collapse of
communism in this nation.
Isn't this Parliamentary “stuffing” the nub of the conflict today,
and a major cause of the loss of public and international confidence
in
the current Saakashvili government? Aren't I correct that these
Georgians need to immediately reload their Parliament?
Georgians themselves, excluding the ever and over and twice again
prospering current Members of Parliament, the normal children of the
legendary Family of Georgia are cut off at the knees from any kind of
truly democratic structures and planks and platforms, in nearly every
respect, in the current situation.
Can anyone remember how Shevardnadze reinstated most of his Parliament
after he dismissed
them, more or less, can you dig out these events from the faded
memories of the past? How many key players in Saakashvili's current
clan worked at one time [for quite a long while, indeed] on the
monorail of Shevaradnadze's express train to disunity and oblivion
and
hunger?
Will not the Saakashvili MPs and he as their leader, and most of the
old Opposition MPs, simply repeat the same mistakes again and again?
So we might conclude after an hour or two of productive thought on
this matter, [i.e., of a fresh and uncompromised Parliament], that
the Georgian people were indeed deprived of a timely, and legal, and
in-
their-favor, parliamentary election, in November of 2007, which might
have brought about the promising guiding-light of fresh teams of
Georgian MBAs and MDs and Masters degree winners, coming back from
USA, UK and Germany and France-- the EU, et al.
A parliament comprised of the principals and top teachers of Tbilisi
and Kutaisi and Batumi and Telavi schools, and Georgian physician-
activists for the desperately needed hospital care and health care
here for the struggling desperate people of Georgia, and along with
them also the passionate property rights activists fighting the
Chancellery, and the grey panthers of organized parties of
disgruntled pensioners, and the many magnificent and proud Georgians,
which
include displaced farmers from their hectares who are being replaced
by huge corporate conglomerate automated farms, owned by many current
MPs, these urgently needed new MPs -- who could have stampeded into
parliament as newly elected MPs this if just given the chance -- and
that this imagined truly democratic and model parliamentary election,
could have come into being at the most opportune time for the natives
of this land, late 2007, early 2008, consisting of the non-elite of
Georgia, basically. They would have swept out most of Misha's MPs,
and along with them the bulk of old Shevardnadze and Moscow-
resonating
fiddlers too, who/which are frequently and deeply embedded in the
half- dozen or more, old and very tiresome Opposition parties here, as
time
rolls on like tank treads on these pot-holed streets?
These never recruited and never elected new MPs would have averted
the hurried and hasty presidential elections of Jan. 5, 2008, and
would
just as likely waited until a late 2008 election date to install
their new president. By this time there would have been nearly a full
year
of generous and hospitable Georgian debates, within a newly
transfigured Parliament, MPs most probably not in tune with Misha
during this hypothetical 2008 year's passing, and they would all have
had to agree and/or disagree with each other in a gentlemanly or
ladylike way, until end of 2008. Political pluralism would have
flowered like the Garden of Eden, and new and friendly coalitions
would have emerged [only in this scenario] and triumphed from the
reforms of Saakashvili's first two years.
These new and unheard of, but now lost to Georgia's better and
undiscovered destiny, these many freshly minted MPs could have TRULY
debated issues and policies and finances, rather than the mud
slinging ejaculations and shout spasms we see today, and these angels
of
democracy were in many aspects stolen from the garden of justice,
just as its flowers were showing her firsts blossoms. These
hypothetical
MPs might have had the chance to vote in Parliament on the issues
TRULY important to THEM and to their constituents, and not just to
pocket USAID money for imported goods laden highways, nor toady up to
the Pentagon's missile strategies for Georgia, nor kneel to the
proponents of Vladimir Putin, his inner team evidently NOT allies of
Georgia, nor would these ideal MPs have supported the old camaraderie
business ties to Russia are still deeply entrenched here, but not
clearly seen, and counterproductive to a new democracy.
I am truly astonished by the bright and hopeful and hard-working and
self-sacrificing Georgians in their 20s and 30s and 40s and 50s also,
who are well educated with admirable characters and genuine integrity
and who want to make a big difference in their country's destiny, in
a disciplined communitarian manner, women most welcome too, to join
the
ranks, and they are all blocked by the current `map of democracy', by
teams, Saakashvili's team, and the motley cluster of Opposition
teams.
Typical and honest Georgians must control the future of Georgia , and
not American military investment conglomerates nor old Russian mafia
business networks.
These sterling Georgians mentioned directly above are the citizens
who belong in Parliament and THEY should select a president, if there
is
to be any hope of true democracy here any year soon. After this
"turn- around", Presidential elections could be arranged to coincide
with
Parliamentary elections, as in other nations. After such a model
transition, Saakashvili would go down in history as a fine and
admired agent of transition, a team player who saw he should enter
private
business after 4 years at the helm, rather than what is in store for
his legacy should he win the election this Jan. 5th. His past
achievements would quite likely be blemished beyond repair by another
term in office.
These new hypothetical MPs would be loyal to Georgia, and her best
interests, and not to Saakashvili, as if he were their beloved CIS
factory boss, or a Godfather in a Francis Ford Coppola film, or a
mirror of Putin's autocracy, and these new hypothetical MPs would not
and could not be loyal, either, to any tricked-out business interests
of the old Opposition, one would pray.
Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
ONLY A FULLY RE-LOADED NEW PARLIAMENT WILL BE THE BEST SHOT FOR THE
FUTURE OF GEORGIA
Matthew L. Bryza is a commentator on affairs in Turkey and the
Caucasus. He has many years experience working in Washington DC.
WATCH THE VIDEO, by Michael Ross McConnell, http://www.driveway.com/c1g5u0b9z1
[DAY OF REVOLT, TBILISI]
Shalva Natelashvili, the leader of Labor Party, said that many
international observers and officials including Bruce George, the Vice-
President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly embedded deeply into the
Parliament Building in Tbilisi, who is currently in Georgia for the
May 21 parliamentary elections, as well as Mathew Bryza, a young neo-
con and pro-military contractor facilitator, and the U.S. Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for the region, were President
Saakashvili’s “lobbyists to whom this regime is transferring money.”
He also said that Bruce George was “unfortunately British Labor MP,”
who is quite cozy with BP Oil and BP Oil pipeline projects.
++
I am sure you had a point. What was it? Misha is an endearing
diminutive for Michael. So if you are not so fond of Saakashvili, why
use a sweet name for him? In the English language, sometimes a more
formal name can be negative. Thus, leave off a title but refer to the
individual as Mr. Saakashvili or even leave off the Mr.and call him as
Saakashvili alone.
You seem to imply that starting from scratch is Georgia's best option.
What is the provision for dissolving Georgia's Parliament in its
constitution and what is the procedure?
tootsie.in...@gmail.com wrote many long and rambling things:
frieda...@gmail.com
On May 21, 4:13 pm, ++ <fri...@spambot.com> wrote:
> Dear Tootsie,
>
> I am sure you had a point. What was it? Misha is an endearing
> diminutive for Michael. So if you are not so fond of Saakashvili, why
> use a sweet name for him? In the English language, sometimes a more
> formal name can be negative. Thus, leave off a title but refer to the
> individual as Mr. Saakashvili or even leave off the Mr.and call him as
> Saakashvili alone.
>
> You seem to imply that starting from scratch isGeorgia'sbest option.
> What is the provision for dissolvingGeorgia'sParliament in its
> constitution and what is the procedure?
>
> tootsie.in.parliam...@gmail.com wrote many long and rambling things:
>
>
>
> >CAN BRUCE GEORGE HELP GEORGIA?
>
> >The answer seems a resoundant 'NO'!!!
>
> >
SOME EARLY FINDINGS………..
Georgia’s Parliamentary Elections – Unprecedented Brutality and
Election Fraud Findings of the observation of the Parliamentary
Elections of May 21 2008
May 2008
Human Rights Monitoring Program.: Black Sea Trust, the Latvian
Embassy to Georgia, Cordaid, and the National Endowment for Democracy
(NED) In addition, we would like to highlight the timely contribution
that Ivar Dale and Aage Borchgevink, representatives of the Norwegian
Helsinki Committee, made in documenting the Khurcha incident, which
took place on election day in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone, and
it proved to be an election-related “breaking news story”. Their
timely and highly professional report has added much insight into the
understanding of the 2008 Georgian Parliamentary Election.
Background
When it was learned that Parliamentary Elections were scheduled to be
held in the spring of 2008, the Human Rights Centre focused its
resources and professional expertise on observing a full range of
activities and processes related to the Georgian Parliamentary
Elections. The Center’s objectives in this respect were: first to
determine how closely Georgia’s electoral process adhered to accepted
international standards, especially in several problematic Georgian
regions where election violations had occurred in the January 2008
snap-presidential elections; secondly, to increase the overall degree
of public awareness about political processes taking place in Georgia;
thirdly, to assist in making the political process in Georgia more
transparent, not only for citizens but for international stakeholders
as well.
The comprehensive goal in our concerted efforts has been to assist in
the consolidation of the democracy that is unfolding or not, within
Georgia. We are also assisting in the realization of open and
transparent elections, and to further educate the wider public in
terms of the developmental stage of Georgian democracy, especially
since the national media is not doing anything at all in this
direction.
This report is divided into two parts. The first section of the report
deals with the findings from the Human Rights Centre during the pre-
election campaign. The second part reflects the Center’s experience
and findings over the events that took place on Election Day.
Finally, the report ends with a summary, conclusions and several
accompanying policy-related recommendations.
PRE- ELECTION CAMPAIGN
Members of the Human Rights Center network have been actively involved
in the monitoring of the pre-election campaign. The staff has been
especially focused on the level of adherence to election procedures by
various actors who were involved in the pre-election campaign. We
wanted to see how closely the process conformed to procedures and
guidelines of the Central Election Commission (CEC) and in enabling
Georgian legislation. Various election-related violations observed
during the pre-election campaign can be classified in the following
six different categories:
* Direct and indirect threats on members of local and district
election commissions;
* Direct and indirect threats towards voters;
* Bribing of voters;
* Preventing meeting of opposition leaders
* Active use of administrative resources by the ruling National
Movement party
* Irregularities related to the voter’s lists
Specific examples of the above-mentioned types of violations are
detailed in the following findings, which have been clearly documented
by the journalists of the Human Rights Centre. Representatives of
other organizations, including the media and international observers,
have also observed the same pattern of violations.
Diary of Pre-election Terror
Representatives of the opposition parties have been unwaveringly in
blaming the Georgian government for open and blatant political
repression and acts of political terrorism and physical violence. They
have alleged on many occasions that the ruling political party, with
the support of its activists, including a network of law enforcers,
have resorted to “strong-arm tactics” -- and for them to prevail in
elections they had been supported by governmental resources, and
assisted by governmental administrative employees. Supporters of
opposition political parties have been openly repressed and threatened
with loss of jobs. Some of the worst instances as described by non-
governmental organizations took place in the Kakehti region of East
Georgia. However, these are not isolated cases to this specific
region. The case studies and examples provided in this report are but
a reflection of what had transpired in parliamentary elections on a
national level.
Police Detained Member of Egalitarian Institute.
Mikheil Kachkachishvili, member of the non-governmental organization
Egalitarian Institute was detained by patrol police in the run-up to
the parliamentary elections. Fikria Chikhradze, a single mandate
candidate from the United Opposition in Telavi told how law enforcers
had illegally taken Kachkachishvili into police custody as he was
traveling to take part in a political meeting in Telavi, a regional
town in East Georgia.
“They stopped his car on a pretext. When the police were asked why
they had pulled the car over, they were only willing to say that
because Mikhail looked suspicious,” explained Fikria Chikhradze.
However, it did appear to eyewitnesses on the scene that his detention
was but a sample of the government’s willingness to use any means at
its disposal to frustrate and place stumbling blocks being able to
attend scheduled meetings organized by members of opposition parties.
Mikhail had only wanted to participate in the pre-election campaign on
a level playing field that should have been afforded all political
parties.
In this case, Mikhail Kachkachishvili was subjected to drug testing
for a controlled substance. However, the test results only proved that
the member of the political party was not under influence of alcohol
or any other mind altering substance.
Nino Petriashvili, wife of the detainee, stated at the time that she
was actually driving the car and not her husband. She claimed that the
police had been following the car all morning on the day of the
incident. “Since Misha (Kachkachishvili) was subsequently released,
patrol police were only able to fine him for parking his car in the
wrong place. However, as his wife noted, the police should have fined
her instead.”
Election HQ of Republic Party Raided in Kvareli
May 10, 2008, the election HQs of Vano Lomidze, single mandate
candidate from Republic Party in Kvareli District in Kakheti Region
was raided, village of Akhalsofeli.
Representatives of the Election HQ had their party’s flags and banners
ripped up and other equipment in the office was deliberately
vandalized. It was also reported to Human Rights representatives
that the headquarters of opposition MP candidate Giorgi Benashvili, of
the Dedoplistskaro district, had his banners and posters and election
paraphernalia ripped off also.
Republician Party members consider the incident to have been connected
with the visit of top candidates on the election list of the National
Movement party. They had visited Kvareli earlier that same day. “Our
supporters asked critical questions to the leaders of the ruling party
and they became irritated. Upon their departure, local members of the
National Movement turned on us and took out their revenge,” explained
Mzia Khutuashvili, a party member.
It was also asserted at the time that a criminal case was to be
launched by officers of the Kvareli Police department. However, the
members of the Republic Party had little faith in the outcome of any
pending investigation. It was later learned that Zaza Gelashvili,
single mandate candidate of the ruling party in the Kvareli district,
is also the former head of the Kakheti Police Department.
Local Stations Block Single Mandate Candidates from TV
Merab Katamadze, single mandate candidate of the Republic Party in
Akhmeta District, told HRIDC that as a consequence of the intervention
of local authorities, two Akhmeta district TV Stations refused him the
opportunity to air his pre-election campaign clips.
Katamadze reported that despite how long the TV station had been
requested to provide this opportunity in writing, the local cable TV
Company “Kakheti” had been delayed in releasing the text supporting
the candidate in subtitles, and after two days, and on the third day
after being aired, the broadcast was suddenly cancelled.
“It was claimed by the station that this was because of technical
problems, and to correct the problem would take it at least two more
weeks. The station’s staff from Akhmeta TV refused to broadcast any of
his pre-election campaigning materials. It was told that an
attributing factor may be connection to the history of the TV Company
and how it was established. The TV station was founded by the District
Administration and the justification provided was based on budget
problems, as no financial resources to pay for pre-election campaign
broadcasts was allocated in the budget. However, in spite of this
claim, the TV Company Akhmeta actively aired meetings of Petre
Tsiskarishvili, a single mandate candidate from the ruling National
party,” explained Katamadze.
The candidate from the Republican Party also claimed that local
authorities suppressed various media sources through Koba
Burkiashvili, a district governor. However, in spite of the
allegations, the governor denied such serious allegations.
Furthermore, the administration of local TV Companies denied the
accusations of the single mandate candidate. Davit Bagauri, the owner
of the cable TV Station “Kakheti” told media representatives it would
take nearly two weeks to be able deliver equipment from the Ukraine,
which was needed to provide subtitles on the TV channel. Fati
Turkiashvili, director of the “Akhmeta TV” then told that the TV
Company was actually founded by the district administration and they
were unable to decide anything on their own.
“In addition, they claimed that that they didn’t have journalists who
were able to carry out the required work. They were told that “we
mostly transmit programs that are produced by Rustavi 2. However, this
is not always the case, as there are instances when we air our own
produced programs, but this is limited and at this time. Nonetheless,
we do not prepare news programs at all. We simply don’t have the
technical and human resources to perform such activities,” stated
Turkiashvili. He added that they have already broadcasted several
items that demonstrated the activities of Petre Tsiskarishvili’s pre-
election campaign
Sighnaghi Police Hassles Opposition Party Members of Election
Commission
Sighnaghi police arrested Besik Khataishvili, commission member of the
Bodbishkhevi election district in Sighnaghi Election Precinct, and a
representative of the Republic Party. Tengiz Bezhashvili, lawyer for
Khatiashvili, reported that police detained his client based on the
appeal of Tamila Dzmanashvili. Tengiz is the head of the Union of
Sport Service Departments in the Sighnaghi District Administration.
Dzmanashvili brought a suit against former employee in same department
for personal insults, as he stated in his administrative appeal, Besik
Khatiashvili demanded to be provided documents that would have
justified his dismissal.
Based on official data, Beslik Khataishvili was running the boxing
division in Sport’s Department. He was discharged from this position
on April 5, 2008. Khataishvili then stated that the real reason for
the dismissal was that he was a member of the Republican Party.
However, based on Georgian Labor Law, Khatiashvil, had the right to
take his dismissal claim to court and demand to be reinstated. He
explained, “I visited Tamila Dzmanashvili at the office on May 5 and
asked her to provide a written document about my dismissal but she
refused. I then categorically demanded that she provide the requested
document but she then refused again. I told her that she was breaking
the law and how I had the possibility taking her to court over such a
violation. However, she only laughed at me and then I then left the
office. Soon the police became involved. Dzmanashvili told the police
that I had insulted her, cursed or said something that was not to her
liking. Other employees also backed her up her story; law enforcers
arrested me that same day. The police interrogated me and accused me
of having committed a crime,” said Besik Khatiashvili.
Zaza Khatiashvili, a single mandate candidate from the Republic Party
standing in the Sighnaghi district explained how local authorities and
the National Movement, with the support of the police, had terrorized
his political supporters. He explained how the village of Bodbishkhevi
was one of the difficult election districts in the Sighnaghi election
precinct.
Evidently, they could not win Khatiahsivli over by bribing him or
through various mechanisms. The only option left was to take out their
revenge against him by indirect methods. Now he would be labeled the
status of suspect, which will enable the ruling party to exert
influence over him. He explained in his commentary “if he would resist
them then he would be found guilty and police will arrest him,”
explained Zaza Khatiahsvili. In this matter a criminal case was
launched under the Georgian Criminal Code, Article 239, Paragraph I
and a one-year-imprisonment is possible.
Candidate from Opposition Party Unable to Rent Office Space
Despite much effort, Zaza Abashidze, single mandate candidate from the
United Opposition in Gurjaani District, could not rent office space in
the centre of the town for his election campaign. Zurab Kandelaki, the
head of the party’s election HQ reported that they had negotiated to
rent office space with a number of people. In spite of all efforts,
they all refused to rent to us. “Officially they did not say anything
but in private talks they said that the local authorities warned them
that they would have problems with police and/or the tax department.
It would be better, as advised, if they would not rent out their
office to us. As a result, place for Zaza Abashidze’s election HQ was
found in the regional office of the New Rights Party,” explained the
respondent.
The Human Rights Center asked Giorgi Botkoveli, the head of the
Kakheti regional HQ of the United National Movement and Irakli
Kadagidze, the head of the Kakheti Police Department to comments over
the allegations when opposition supporters had been repressed and the
Election HQ of the Republic Party in Kvareli was raided However,
Botkoveli denied all claims and Kadagidze refused to make any
comment.
Tbilisi Prosecutor Involved in Blatant Violation of Election Law
Gurjaani Election Precinct # 12 registered Giorgi Ghviniashvili from
the United National Movement as a MP candidate through the
majoritarian (single mandate) system and as a result, the Georgian
election law was breached. The Georgian Election Code established
requirements where certain conditions must be first considered by the
Central Election Commission, which Ghviniahsivli had not provided. He
failed to provide proof of having resigned from his job to the
Precinct Election Commission, as he did not supply supporting
documents which showed that he did not work at the same time in the
office of the Tbilisi Prosecutor.
Based Article 94, Paragraph I-“p” of the Georgian Code of Elections,
it is stipulated that within “two days after coming out as a candidate
for political office – and in this instance, as an MP standing for
political office at the national level, the law requires that notice
is to be submitted to the appropriate election commission, and the
candidate, prosecutors, their deputies, assistants and even
investigators shall then resign from their positions.” According to
the paragraph II of the same article, a “corresponding legal
requirement to have to resign from the post and that such a
resignation shall be immediately submitted to the controlling election
commission at the district level – and if not, the person shall be
refused the right to be registered as a MP candidate, or if this
person has already registered, the paperwork shall be annulled.”
Despite the clear requirements under the law, Gurjaani Election
Precinct # 12 failed to follow legal procedures and registered Giorgi
Ghviniashvili to run in the elections and constituted a violation of
the law as he continued to work as a prosecutor when it was not
allowed under election regulations.
“Because of violations only one member of the election commission,
Nana Jadugishvili, who represents the Republican Party, took exception
to instance and refused to register Ghviniashvili as a candidate. She
provided legal arguments for her action. However, all her efforts and
pleadings were in vain,” said Zurab Danelishvili, representative of
the Republic Party to the Gurjaani Precinct Election Commission # 12.
Nana Devidze, regional coordinator of the International Society for
Fair Elections and Democracy, also attended the same commission
meeting that discussed the registration of various political
candidates.
“I learned about the meeting by chance because they did not put up a
notice. Moreover, the commission also did not take the time to inform
me about the meeting. It now appears that interested stakeholders were
not allowed to attend the session in order to determine whether the
commission had legally considered various issues. Naturally it would
have been better if members of the commission had been proper in their
relations with representatives of political parties, NGOs and
journalists. Each reporter had only two minutes to make a short
speech. However, if this person was in the middle of a sentence they
were not even permitted to finish it before being cut off,” said Nana
Devidze.
Natalia Begashvili, the chairperson of the Gurjaani Precinct Election
Commission # 12 did not comment about this situation. She also did not
allow her deputy, Zaza Kviralashvili to speak with representatives of
the Human Rights Centre on the subject.
Andro Shinjikashvili, representative of the CEC to the Gurjaani
Election Precinct is noted for having demonstrated aggressive behavior
on election-related issues. He also did not want to comment about the
complaints of election observers as well. Later, however, he made a
statement and explained that commission members had not actually
violated the law. He said Ghviniashvili was included on the election
list of the United National Movement and that he had already submitted
the required resignation letter to the CEC within the stipulated
period of time.
According to the Article 2 of the CEC Resolution # 19/2008 dated by
April 6 2008 “immediately after the MP candidate provides the CEC with
certain documents or notifications, the CEC shall send all necessary
documents to Precinct Election Commission (PEC).” Despite the
resolution, the Precinct’s Election Commission had not received the
resolution from the CEC that should have addressed the resignation of
Giorgi Ghviniashvili from the position of Tbilisi Prosecutor.
Zurab Danelishvili later told that they intend to appeal against the
PEC at the CEC and would even resort to formal court proceedings.
Danelishvili does not exclude the possibility that Natalia Begashvili
would provide the required resolution about Ghviniashvili’s
resignation in combination with an earlier dated report of the
commission’s meeting that was held on April 24. Observers from various
NGOs also concur with the allegations of the Republican Party and its
members allege that election laws had been grossly violated.
Begashvili is also thought to have been responsible for falsifying
many documents during the snap-Presidential Election of January 5,
2008. It was alleged at the time that she was very well experienced in
how to do such things. Naturally the possibility could not be excluded
that she would again resort to forging or fabricating election
documents. It was told that she showed a total sense of impunity as
she understood that she would not be held accountable for any of her
actions. Moreover, she might even be honored for her deeds. Several
criminal cases were instigated as a result of such violations, as
observed during the Presidential Elections, However, Begashvili has
never been interrogated as a potential witness,” as reported by
representatives of the Human Rights Centre.
Nonetheless, it is clear from the statements of lawyers that the
alleged violations so evident that Ghviniahsvili’s candidature should
have been removed from the official ballot.
Torsten Derik and Severin Chapaz, long-term observers of the
Observation Mission of the OSCE, Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Office, were informed about the registration of the commission members
who were under a cloud of suspicion. It was pointed out during
follow-up discussions with the local observation organizations that
they would study the situation in detail and then observe the
situation very carefully in discussing the potential violations.
Republican Party Speaks about Repressions in Kutaisi
Resignation letters were written on the behalf of the Election
Chairperson, and the circumstances raised questions when a draft
letter suddenly appeared on his desk at the headquarters of the
Republican Party in Kutaisi on the morning of May 8, 2008. Republican
members of district election committee were soon informed that
Vladimer Nakashidze had submitted a written resignation.
As reported, “instances of committee members’ faced with repression
and threats were on the increase with each passing day. “They come and
proffer their resignation letters and they don’t hide that their
decision to resign was not freely theirs but made under coercion. […]
it is those who don’t like normal political processes who forced us to
resign”. As one respondent noted, “even when I asked them for an
explanation as to why, they could only say that it is because of the
pressure of the chairperson of the district election committee – and
they had no choice in the matter; it is the government’s policy to
force people to resign. I really feel sorry for those individuals who
had to write a letter of resignation with tear filled eyes; it has
been these people that have really been threatened, They are now just
too afraid to divulge any additional details”, stated Vladimer
Nakashidze, a single mandate candidate, and who was the chairperson of
a political organization based in Kutaisi.
Manana Leshkasheli, Eka Tvildiani and Leila Makharoblidze, members of
the 77th and 83th district election committee, were threatened by the
police. They were told that if they do not leave their job --- how
things would turn out bad for them. The district where they were
assigned as committee members is mostly inhabited by refugees and
IDPs.
“You know that refugees are a serious resource of support for the
current government in elections. Government officials do their best to
neutralize committee members whose loyalties may be under question.
Akaki Bobokhidze, the former governor of Imereti Region, who is a
single mandate candidate of Kutaisi, is responsible for controlling
the structures that are involved in repression. He deals with local
police and Georgian security services. The system is even tenser now
than it was during the January 2008 presidential elections. It will
be necessary to hold these people responsible under the criminal code
following the parliamentary elections. There are two types of
violators involved, and they should be held accountable to the law:
the ones who give the orders and for those who followed such illegal
orders. Those responsible should not think that they will be able get
away with these kinds of violations,” explained one respondent.
Leila Makharoblidze who refrained from making any public comment,
served as a committee member during the snap-presidential elections as
well. As Nakashidze explained, one commission member, Leila
Makharoblidze had some serious problems with the chairperson during
this time as well. She happens to be the mother of the chairperson of
the district municipality board chairperson’s mother and she is also a
supporter of the ruling National Movement.
Vladimer Nakashidze: “The District governor came to Leila
Makharoblidze and asked why she decided to became a member of the
Republican Party. He proceeded to advise her to give up membership in
the opposition party and in return he would even give her a personal
mobile phone number so that she could ring him up. The police
representatives then came to her at home the very next day and
announced that a TV-set of the LG brand in her home had been stolen by
her son. Regardless of the serious allegation, they only found a Sony
TV set, not a LG one. The much sought after TV set is still missing.
There is always the possibility that police will somehow learn about
people’s political orientation and take appropriate measures. The
police are known for even asking voters openly as to whom they wanted
to vote and asked them to write down their telephone numbers. The
government now finds itself in a tight situation, as at this time it
sees no other way out that it can honestly win the parliamentary
election. Moreover, it is clear that regional election committee
members will do nothing in response to such actions on the part of the
government and it enforcers.”
Another respondent, “Regional election committees are not in the
position to do anything in response to such allegations. The
“Republican party” has not officially lodged any complaints over the
above-mentioned circumstances. Resignation letters of committee
members should only be written on the behalf of regional committee
chairperson instead of Chairperson of the Republican Party. Committee
members are election administration officials and they should follow
the legal instructions as the rule of how to work. They receive their
salary from the CEC budget and they should do their jobs in a proper
way. Some committee members even intentionally go to election
districts and make every effort to provoke senseless arguments,”
explained Avtandil Osepashvili, the chairperson of Kutaisi 59th
district election committee.
Black List of Voter Riggers -Giorgi Mosidze Pointing-the-Finger
Giorgi Mosidze, a single mandate candidate from the United Opposition
in the Gori District began his interview with the Human Rights Center
by saying that the government intends to carry out elections in the
Shida Kartli Region with the support of criminal elements. Mosidze
spoke about the policy inmates were released from prisons earlier than
their sentences in order to gain the support of their families. Both
prisoners and their family members were expected to support the lists
of candidates from the ruling National Movement as a sign of
appreciation for having gained freedom.
Giorgi Mosidze also told how a candidate from the National Movement
had refused to take part in a scheduled political debate Lado
Vardzelashvili, the Regional Governor, was ready to debate with him.
Giorgi continues, “It is nice to see that the central media have ended
their boycott against the United Opposition, which is something that
is rather odd in the history of world political activism. As for the
upcoming parliamentary elections, we feel that there will be
widespread vote rigging, which will be the same as was the case in the
presidential elections of January. In cooperation with the OSCE
Observation Mission, we jointly complained about the way that
commission members were registered with the Gori Precinct Election
Commission. Evidently, they went and elected the same people as
chairpersons who were on earlier commissions. These are exactly the
same people that had rigged the presidential elections. We have since
learned that officials from the Regional Police Department and
Security Department and they had actually met with the chairpersons of
the various commissions. They would ask them how many votes they would
be able to collect in favor of the ruling party. Chairpersons have
been ordered to provide concrete result in terms of what they would do
in order to secure 70 % of the cast votes for the National Movement.”
Mosidze warned at the time to each and every chairperson of the local
elections commissions in Gori District that rigging of election
results is covered under the Criminal Code and he concretely named
those that he believed to have been professional riggers in the Gori
District.
Gori Election District # 2-Sofio Iremashvili, the chairperson;
Gori Election District # 4-Givi Sadaghashvili, the chairperson;
Gori Election District # 13-Laura Nadiradze;
Gori Election District # 17- Tamar Papitashvili;
Gori Election District #18-Maia Toliashvili;
Election District # 48, village of Karaleti-Lia Bochorishvili;
Election District # 49, village of Karaleti -Eter Gogiashvili;
Election District #50, village of Garejvari-Aleksi GHolijashvili;
Election District # 52, village of Karbi-Ioveli Tsimakuridze;
Election District # 54, village of Mejvriskhevi-Nikoloz Alkhazishvili;
Election District # 56, village of Zerti -Lela Tielidze;
Election District # 63, village of Meghvrekisi -Maia Darbuashvili;
Election District # 67, village of Kvakhvreli-Davit Mechitishvili;
Election District # 73, village of Kvemo Khviti-Tamaz Maisuradze;
Election District # 77, village of Kitsnisi-Zakaria Koblianidze.
MP Candidates Bribing Voters
Bribing voters is prohibited by both the Election and the Criminal
Codes of Georgia. However, candidates for Majoritarian MP, mostly from
United National Movement openly provided presents to voters. Similar
acts have been documented by local and central TV companies, and it
became a common practice. However, in spite of the legal
ramifications, no criminal cases were ever opened.
Levan Bezhashvili, Regional Governor, introduced Petre Tsiskarishvili,
the candidate for MP to the residents of the Akhmeta District. Within
the Pre-election campaign Bezhashvili and Tsiskarishvili provide those
living in the Pankisi Valley a bus that would enable the locals to
travel to neighboring districts. In addition, the passengers would
only have to pay a mere 30 tetri instead of the previous high price of
2 GEL for the same level of service.
Like Tsiskarishvili, Gia Arsenishvili, a candidate for MP in Telavi
District from the United National Movement, also provided the locals
with a bus service. Former State Minister during Shevardnadze’s
presidency visited the village of Kondolo in Telavi District along
with local authorities. They traveled to the village by bus and then
presented free tickets for municipality transport for mothers with
many children, as well as to blind people. At the conclusion of the
meeting, Gia Arsenishvili asked the villagers to vote for him and he
promised that the village would be supplied with gas in exchange for
their election support.
Wells for drinking water were also dug in several villages in the
Kvareli District. The money was directly allocated from the district
budget. Candidate for MP, Zaza Gelashvili along with the district
authorities also attended the meeting with the residents from the
villages of Gavazi and Sanavardo. Potential voters were promised that
the wells that were being dug were because of his initiative. He told
them that if the villagers would vote for him in the parliamentary
elections, then he would make sure that every village under his
responsibility would be supplied with a source of clean and safe
water.
On April 26, Nugzar Abulashvili, a candidate for MP from the leading
party, gave ethnic Russians living in the village of Ulianovka candy
and other presents for the Easter Holiday. Several days earlier, on
behalf of candidate Baadur Baidoshvili, a representative of the
district authority to Ulianovka distributed ten kilos of wheat to
locals from the villages of Magharo and Ulianovka.
Such charity and good deeds begs the question as if distributingof
food products and providing a bus can construed on the same level as
outright vote buying? The Human Rights Centre asked this questionto
Lela Taliuri, the head of the Telavi Office of the Young Lawyers’
Association.
“It is important to note that our legislation prohibits such
activities. If a candidate breaches the conditions of the law, the
Election Code states that such a candidate shall not be allowed to be
registered, and under those instances where the officer seeker is
already registered, it shall be cancelled,” explained Lela Taliuri.
Article 73, paragraph IX-“a” of the Georgian Election Code states:
“election subjects and their representatives are forbidden to
personally, or through intermediaries, pay money to voters, provide
gifts and other items of material value, and/or to sell them goods or
commodities at privileged or discounted prices, and/or to supply free-
of-charge or disseminate any goods, except for the public relations
materials as allowed under Georgian legislation. It is also a
prohibited act to create interest of voters by making promises of
future payments, benefits, or to problem them with items of material
value.”
According to the same Article, paragraph 9, “election subjects and
their representatives cannot carry out personally, or through another
any of the activities prohibited under Article 73, Paragraph 9,
registration of the election subject is cancelled by court decision.”
Lela Taliuri states that the above-mentioned illegal activities can
serve as the basis for not registering an MP candidate or annulling
his/her current registration. Moreover, if the fact can be proved, the
campaign bid of an election candidate can also be voided from being
able to stand for political office. In this case the candidate
represented the “United National Movement – For Winning Georgia” and
the demand could have been made to forfeit the official registration
of this candidate.
On April 22, 2008 The “Georgian Young Lawyers Association” (GYLA)
lodged an official appeal to the Tbilisi City Court and demanded the
abolition of the registration of the “United National Movement – For
Winning Georgia”. On April 24, 2008 the court passed its verdict,
which did not give relief under the claim of the GYLA. It was
mentioned in the court verdict that despite Paragraph 9 of Article 73
of the Organic Law of Georgia “Election Code of Georgia” that the
transferring of money, presents or other valuable objects to the
citizens of Georgia is forbidding. However, in its decision the court
considered that this law is only intended to impose restrictions under
circumstances where the transfer was specifically intended to win
votes and gain the continued support of citizens. In this case the
court decided that the provision of inexpensive souvenirs could not be
considered as activity that demonstrates a candidate’s attempts to win
in the parliamentary election.
The lawyers of GYLA appealed the verdict of Tbilisi City Court in the
Tbilisi Court of Appeals. However, the TCA board did not change the
initial verdict passed by the TCC.
Nonetheless, bribing of voters is a felony as stipulated under Article
161 of the Georgian Election Code. A one year term of imprisonment
can imposed as the penalty for this crime. The Georgian Ministry of
Internal Affairs told that there have been no instances where anyone
had approached law enforcement bodies with a petition or request to
investigate such alleged acts of voter bribing, thus no criminal cases
have been opened.
Political Squabble at Telavi University - Police refuses to
investigate hooliganism of National Movement Members
Despite demands of the non-governmental organizations and information
that has already been distributed by media sources, the Telavi
Department of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs has not opened
a criminal investigation over an incident that occurred on May 7, 2008
at Telavi State University. Lecturers and students of the university
were holding meetings with leaders of the United Opposition in the
university’s hall. Suddenly activists of the National Movement, the
ruling party, rushed into the hall and attempted to prevent the
meeting from continuing. The activists were making recriminations and
cursing Levan Gachechiladze, Salome Zurabishvili, Koba Davitashvili,
Fikria Chikhradze and as well as other leaders of the United
Opposition for 20 minutes.
The incident started when Nukri Kantaria, a member of the “Georgian
Academy” was giving a speech. He requested the audience to support
Fikria Chikhradze, a single mandate candidate of the United Opposition
camp in Telavi for the upcoming parliamentary elections. Suddenly,
several young men rushed into the hall and began shouting. One of
them, holding the National flag in his hand, shouted: “Who allowed the
opposition to hold meetings in Telavi?!” They also proceeded to curse
voters and even threatened those who had gathered; it was told that
they would inform the administration of the local election HQ of the
National Movement as exactly who had been at the meeting of the
opposition. The situation became so tense that both the supporters of
the opposition parties and ruling party started to both argue and
quarrel with the uninvited intruders.
Levan Gachechiladze, the leader of the National Council of the United
Opposition, tried to reduce tensions that stemmed from the situation;
he then approached the activists of the National Movement and held out
a Rose to them instead of the National flag.” He proceeded to tell
them that this flag does not belong only belong the National Movement,
as it is a flag for everybody.”
Several minutes later the fighting continued in the corridor of the
university. Farna Makashvili, Imeda Kevlishvili, Davit Tushishvili and
other members of the ruling party continued to leaders of the
opposition leaders and their supporters.
“Having failed to restrain the members of the National Movement, we
contacted Gia Papunashvili, the head of the Election HQ of the ruling
party in Telavi and asked him whether or not he had received any
information about the alleged incident. He told that he was in front
of the university and it was him that had actually sent those people
to the meeting,” explained Nika Vardoshvili, a supporter of the United
Opposition.
Youth from opposing parties even suffered various injuries. The head
of the Election HQ, Gia Papunashvili also arrived at the scene.
However, in spite of his presence, no effort was made to calm the
situation. Levan Gachechiladze and Father Mikael, a priest from the
Telavi Church, had both attempted to separate the conflicting parties
and bring about calm to the situation. T
The leadership from the opposition camp commented about the incidents.
Levan Gachechiladze stated that activists from the ruling party had
prevented them from conducting a peaceful and normal pre-election
campaign.
“This incident was organized by the ruling party. People should not be
degraded according to which party they have sympathies with,”
responded Gachechiladze, who then drew his attention to the tense pre-
election situation that existed in the Akhemta District. He
recommended to the head of the Akhmeta Police Department as well as to
the District Governor that they should bring an end to tactics of
terrorism and the repression of voters. Fikria Chikhradze then
promised the representatives of the ruling party to leave Telavi only
after the “district will be set free from violence and fear.”
The incident was broadcasted on the same day by various TV stations.
The lawyers consider the incident to have been criminal and that it
had taken on characteristics of hooliganism. Moreover, they told that
those responsible should be criminally charged. And specifically, the
Telavi Police Department should open a criminal investigation into the
matter. NGO representatives also demanded that an investigation be
opened. However, reportedly, the police chose not to start an
investigation.
District Governors Run Election HQs in Kakheti Region
The Georgian Election Code requires that public officials from state
and local public agencies cannot take part in the pre-election
campaign, and especially at such times when they are carrying out
their public duties. According to the same code, high-ranking
officials from the local governmental agency must not use their
position to support any one candidate or party over another during the
pre-election campaign. Nevertheless district governors are operating
election HQs in the Kakheti region.
Several days ago, Gia Gozalishvili, Lagodekhi district governor,
stated on local TV Station that he had undergone tremendous stresses
from activities implemented by the ruling party, while he was meeting
locals and making speeches favoring the National Movement. “I meet
locals in the district almost every day. I listen to their problems
and tell them the National Movement has done much and if the party
will be successful in the elections they will be in the position to
achieve even more,” said Gozalishvili.
Peddling of Influence among Teachers
-Mr. Gozalishvili, are you making announcements in favor of the
National Movement when you meet with locals?
-No, I am not; I have not made such a claim. I meet with people and
openly express my support for the ruling party but only during non-
working hours.
- Officially, working day lasts from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. How do you
manage to meet people outside of working hours; do you meet them at
night or on your days-off?
- I do not meet them at night but may be I meet them mainly on
weekends.
-But you are public official and according to the law you must not
take part in the pre-election campaign.
-And I do not participate in it.
-You are accompanying Guram Kakalashvili, a single mandate candidate
from the National Movement, together with the director of the Resource
Center and give promises to teachers; how can you explain it?
-I do not accompany any candidate and neither have I given promises to
teachers.
Kakha Labuchidze, Gurjaani District governor, could not deny his
participation in the pre-election campaign of the single mandate
candidate from the ruling party. He personally introduced Giorgi
Ghviniashvili, the candidate, to teachers, personnel of the district
administration board and employees of other public agencies in the
Gurjaani Culture Center. The district governor was standing on the
scene during one hour together with the candidate and was answering
the questions of the people. “I, Gurjaani District Governor, promise
you that all problems you raised here will be resolved if you vote for
Giorgi Ghviniashvili,” said Labuchidze.
Gia Chalatashvili, Sagarejo District Governor, also took part in the
pre-election campaign and runs district election HQ of the ruling
party. Based on the personal notification, district municipality board
temporarily suspended his responsibilities as a district governor.
Representatives of the Human Rights Center are also concerned about
the violation of the election code. The organization, which monitors
the election process in Kakheti Region, blames Akhmeta, Sagarejo,
Kvareli, Lagodekhi and Dedoplistskaro District governors for having
breached the Election Code.
“District governors are fully involved in the pre-election campaign.
They meet voters together with the members of the ruling party.
Moreover, governors monitor the activities of the activists of the
party. “We got hold of the document from one of the election HQs of
the National Movement. In the document district governors are named as
heads of the election HQs and their contact information is provided
there,” stated representatives of the Human Rights Center.
They also added that long-term observers of the OSCE Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights Office also have similar documents;
though they have received them from other election HQ of the ruling
party.
Representatives of the Kakheti Regional Election HQ of the United
National Movement and Regional Administration categorically deny the
accusation.
Giorgi Botkoveli, the head of the Kakheti regional election HQ,
reported that district governors do not run election HQs. “Lia
Mamagulashvili is the head of Akhmeta Election HQ; Levan Jamalashvili
runs the Dedoplistskaro HQ; Gocha Shavgulidze runs Kvareli HQ; Gela
Gelashvili runs Lagodekhi HQ; Gogita Sibashvili runs Gurjaani HQ; Rezo
Benashvili runs Sighnaghi HQ; Gia Papunashvili runs Telavi HQ and Gia
Chalatashvili runs Sagarejo HQ. As for the latter, according to the
Georgian Law on Public Service, Article 89, Chalatashvili does not
assume his responsibility of district governor currently,” said
Botkoveli.
Opposition Complains About “Unequal Conditions” in Gori
Locals are predicting that pre-election campaign among the candidates
of majority membership of the parliament will be too tough. The
opposing sides of the National Movement and United Opposition was
added with yet a third side, Jumber Patiashvili who also will be
participating in the balloting. The Patiashvili’s factor has turned
everything upside down in Gori. The local authorities have panicked.
The election HQ of the leading party works very hard and puts in
overtime in trying to land on its feet.
The government fist suspected that the main opponent from the side of
the United Opposition would be Teo Tlashadze, a supporter of Irakli
Okruashvili, former Defense Minister. However, things soon changed and
the ruling party was disappointed that Tlashadze will not be standing
in the race after all. Levan Terashvili, another candidate, was an
advisor to Irakli Okruashvili in various fields. While Gori residents
expected Tlashadze and Terashvili to start quarreling in the election
HQ of the National Council, the United Opposition introduced Giorgi
Mosidze as its candidate in Gori. Mosidze’s father has been the leader
of Gori Musical Choir and he has some close links to the Gori
district.
On April 22 the United Opposition officially introduced their
candidate to voters in Gori. Giorgi Mosidze, one of the leaders of
the New Rights, was shared with potential voters as their candidate in
the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Mosidze stated in the HQ several days before the introduction that the
authority intended to win the elections in Gori with the support of
the police. It means that the law enforcers intend to arrest
opposition activists and members of opposition parties. Zurab
Chinchilakashvili, Deputy Regional Governor, reacted to Mosidze’s
statement and called them as being totally absurd.
As for Jumber Patiashvili, reportedly he was introduced after the
“Entrepreneurs” created an alliance with his political movement
‘Ertoba”. Patiashvili then became a majoritarian MP (single mandate)
from Gori and was Irakli Okruashvili, being elected as majority MP
back in 2003; he even refused to enter the parliament and joined with
executive government.
The Patiashvili’s factor had a major impact on Gori’s political space,
which was at the expense of the “National Movement” and which at the
time, had wanted to present its own candidate. In 2004, it was also
claimed that they wanted to offer Gogi Mchedlishvili from “Burjanadze-
Democrats” to Gori population. However, Okruashvili insisted on naming
Jumber Patiashvili in Gori. In doing so Okruashvili paid Patiashvili
back for the kind deeds that had been afforded to him.
Non-governmental organizations place emphasis on the unequal
conditions that exists between the parties. For example, the working
group of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) published a
report dealing with observed violations in the pre-election campaign.
GYLA observed that public officials-Zaza Gorozia, Samegrelo-Zemo-
Svaneti Regional Governor, Levan Bezhashvili, Kakheti Regional
Governor and Ramaz Nikoleishvili, Guria Regional Governor, participate
in the pre-election campaign, which is totally against the law. They
introduced the candidates standing for majority membership in the
Georgian Parliament to local voters.
Giorgi Chkheidze, the chairperson of the GYLA explained how Article V
of the Georgian General Administrative Code had been violated.
According to mentioned article national or local governmental
officials do not have right to participate in pre-election campaign
while they are carrying out their professional duties. “We conclude
that regional governors did in fact take part in pre-election
campaigns by introducing the candidates to potential voters. Moreover,
they expressed their support for such candidates,” said Giorgi
Chekheidze during a recent briefing.
Detained Election Commission Members Intend to Apply to Strasbourg
Court
Zaza Khatiashvili, single mandate candidate from Republic Party in
Sighnaghi District and lawyer Tengiz Bezhashvili held a press-
conference at the Human Rights Center’s Kakheti Office. Khatiashvili
stated that he intends to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights
in Strasbourg against the detention of Besik Khatiashvili, member of
the Bodbiskhevi District Election Commission and member of the
Republician Party.
Reportedly, Sighnaghi police arrested Khatiashvili based on request of
Tamila Dzmanashvili, the head of District Sport Department for yet a
second time.
Dzmanashvili blamed him for verbally insulting her and as she wrote in
her statement to police that Besik Khatiashvili demanded document on
his dismissal and he had insulted her.
Based on official data, Khataishvili was running the boxing division
in Sport’s Department. He was discharged from this position on April
5, 2008. Khataishvili stated that the reason for his dismissal was his
membership in Republic Party. However, based on the Georgia Labor Law,
Khatiashvil had right to appeal to the court with the demand to be
restored to his former position until May 7. “Consequently, I visited
Tamila Dzmanashvili at the office on May 5 and asked her to provide
document on my dismissal. However, she refused. Then I categorically
demanded for her to provide the requested document but she then
refused for a second time. I explained to Dzmanashvili that she was
breaking the law then I departed the office. Soon the police were
involved. Dzmanashvili stated to the police officers that I had
insulted her, cursed or said something like that was not to her
liking. Other employees also confirmed her testimony. Law enforcers
arrested me on the same day and then proceeded to interrogate me and
even accused me of having committed a crime,” said Besik Khatiashvili.
Tengiz Bezhashvili, the attorney, stated that Dzmanashvili’s husband
was interrogated at the trial as a witness who works as a driver at
the Sighnaghi District Sport Department.
Zaza Khatiashvili stated that the judge passed illegal order and they
will appeal to the European Court.
Zaza Khatiashvili also mentioned that he is not allowed into the
public schools to meet teachers during his pre-election campaign
because of the order of the ruling party.
Tengiz Bezhashvili pointed out that detainee is placed in the pre-
trial detention isolator and he wants to meet his client, though he is
not allowed. “Based on groundless testimonies of four policemen I was
arrested not long ago and fined 100 GEL. As far as I know they intend
to do the same now and I avoid entering the police station,” said the
attorney.
The attorney added that local authority and National Movement
terrorize supporters of the Republican Party. “Bodbiskhevi Election
District is one of the most complicated districts in the Sighnaghi
Election Precinct. They could not do anything about Besik
Khatiashvili, they could not even get a bribe from him, and they tried
to punish him using such a method,” said Bezhashvili.
According to the Sighnaghi District Organization of the Republic
Party, during the Presidential Elections on January 5 2008 Mikheil
Saakashvili gained more votes at Bodbiskhevi Election District than
were the actual number of voters who cast their ballots.
Precinct Election Commissions Members Forced to Resign
Personnel changes were carried out in the Election Precincts where,
during the Presidential Elections on January 5 2008, the presidential
candidate from the ruling party failed to gain a convincing victory by
a wide enough margin; those Precinct Election Commissions were also
blamed for having rigged the election results. PEC members were unable
to stand up to the heat of district governors, heads of police
departments and prosecutors. Consequently they had no choice but to
submit their letters of resignation. In addition, the chairperson of
the CEC fired commission members who did not obey what was otherwise
an illegal demand.
Personnel changes were carried out in several regions of Georgia, and
it is mostly reflective of those commission members who paid the least
attention to the violations observed during the elections. Zurab
Daneilishvili, former members of the Gurjaani PEC # 12, spoke why the
members of the PEC were fired and who were involved in the decision
and why they were forced to give up their jobs.
“There were several serious instances of vote rigging observed in the
Gurjaani PEC during the counting of the results of the Presidential
Elections back on January 5 2008. The violations took place at
Kardenakhi Election District # 33 and at the Vachnadzeani Election
District # 6. Zurab wrote his recollection of the violations and
enclosed to the final report of the PEC, which was done according to
the Election Code. It was the submitted to the CEC, and even the
Georgian Public Defender became interested in those alleged
violations. Having studied the situation the Ombudsman requested the
CEC to react to the alleged violations.
Mr. Danielashvili, “I was invited to the meeting where the request of
the Public Defender was to be discussed. Being asked about my opinion
of what I saw I proceeded to mention all those blatant violations that
were observed at the districts. Consequently, Levan Tarkhnishvili, the
chairperson of the CEC, his deputy and Gizo Mchedlidze, secretary of
the CEC started to be especially irritated. The members of the CEC
would not allow me to completely describe all the violations. I was
then expelled from the meeting. And during the process they were
shouting to the guard to physically drag me away. However, I did not
put up any resistance and left on my own accord.”
“Later I learned that CEC had fired me earlier than what was
stipulated under my employment contract. The legal basis for the
decision was based on a claim that I had blatantly and systematically
breached a standing order. In fact, the administration of the CEC
could not tolerate that I, despite their repression, even had the
nerve to speak up about violations observed during the elections.
- Mr. Danielashvili, As far as we know, you have appealed against the
CEC decision at the court and you request to re-appoint you to your
position. What did the judge decide?
- As I have already mentioned, I did not breach any regulations. Even
though similar fact had occurred, the CEC had to pass resolution on my
resignation within five days according to the Article 21, Paragraph
III of the Georgian Election Code. The commission did not follow the
terms of the law. Tamar Shushiashvili, judge at the Administrative
Case Collegium at the Tbilisi City Court, states in her decision made
on February 8 2008 that “five day term was breached but it is not kind
of violation that would have impacted the final decision reached in
this particular case. Basically, the judge did not satisfy my
appeal.”
- How were you violated and who suppressed you?
- On the next day of the elections when I learned the final reports of
the election districts, complaints of the observers and other
documents, I then was able to find many violations in them; I also
informed other members of the commission of my observations. Next day,
on January 7 Valeri Vardosanidze called me on the phone and introduced
himself to me as the Deputy District Governor. He asked what
complaints I had regarding the reports from the election districts. I
told him that the results of the presidential elections and plebiscite
did not coincide with each other in the reports. The candidates had
received more votes than were the actual number who cast their votes.
I added that there were some other facts of violations. However, he
advised me to keep silent. On the same day my relative visited me and
informed me about the demand from the government. I replied to him
that evident vote rigging was observed at specific election districts
and I would not keep silent. Then MP Ioseb Kardenakhishvili called me
soon thereafter and said I could ask him everything I wanted to know.
I told the same to the MP claiming the rigging was evident and it
could not be hidden. Kardenakhishvili did not threaten me directly but
there can be repression and it is not done in a threatening way. I
was then called from the police department and prosecutor’s office.
However, still I did not change my position.
On January 8, Tamaz Khutsishvili, my former colleague and former
worker at the Military Commissariat visited me at my office together
with two additional persons. He asked me out to accompany them to
their car where we sat. Khutsishvili then reminded me that he had
served a prison term, something that I had not remembered. He then
explained to me that he was discharged in exchange for his support to
the National Movement. So, if I did not keep silent about the
violations, he would be arrested again and sent back to prison.
- Did not he tell you had sent him?
- They indirectly mentioned Tamaz Tsabutashvili, Kakheti Regional
Prosecutor. One of the people sitting in the car said he was in total
control of the situation. After that, my relative visited me again and
he told me that if I did not sign final reports I would have had
problems. My son, who is a student, or even me, might be planted with
drugs and be arrested. I was told that even worst things may happen. I
had to lock my eighteen year old son in the house because of such
threats and I did not allow him out for the next week. Afterwards, my
wife and I called him once in every half hour to check on him.
- What do you know about your colleagues, for example, Gia
Makhlishvili, Bichiko Maisuradze and others who were also repressed?
Reportedly, they resigned and the decision was based on their personal
applications.
- I definitely know that they were also repressed in spite that they
do not speak about concrete facts. Finally they had to submit their
resignation and give up their positions.
Officials from the Central Election Commission deny the facts of
repressing members of district election commission. “Chairpersons of
the PEC have not yet applied to us with any complaints about being
repressed. They only make baseless statements,” said Levan
Tarkhnishvili.
Kakha Nareklishvili, representative of the CEC, explained that Zurab
Danelishvili’s accusation about his illegal firing from the job is
groundless and a court of law has also confirmed it.
Day of the Living Dead during Parliamentary Elections
According to Article 9 of the Georgian Election Code, the deadline for
making changes into the election lists has already expired. May 9th
was the last day where changes could have been made to the election
lists based on recent court decisions. However, according to the
request of opposition parties, the CEC prolonged the period for
changes until May 13. According to the most recent data, 3,461, 851
citizens are registered as voters on the election lists. However, in
spite of good intentions and many comments of observing organizations,
dead people are included on the lists.
Tsiala Lamazoshvili, Guram Mchedlishvili, Tariel Amonashvili and
Giorgi Nanichashvili, died in 2007-2008, and are included on the
election lists at Election Districts # 14, 15 of the Telavi Election
Precinct # 17.
Natalia Begashvili, chairperson of the Gurjaani Precinct Election
Commission # 12, states that they have removed nearly 300 dead people
from the list. However, Zurab Kandelaki, the head of the District
Election HQ for the United Opposition, told that there are still dead
people on the lists.
In spite of the claim that those who have died were also removed from
the lists last year, the names still appear on voter lists.” It is
difficult to understand how so many dead found their way back to a
list of supposedly live voters. Regardless, there are the names of
many deceased voters still on the list. For instance, Aleksi Lomidze,
born in 1929, and Giorgi Varsimashvili born in 1938, etc,” stated
Zurab Kandelaki, and the list of departed voters goes on and on.”
In spite of presented facts, the election commission continues to deny
the complaints of the opposition. “The mortality rate in Georgia is
high; consequently the commission should look closer at checking the
election lists and to once and for all remove the name of the dead
from it. However, after May 13 no changes can be made into the lists,”
said Begashvili.
Members of the Labor Party also speak out about the living-dead on the
voter lists. Soso Shatberashvili, a representative of the party states
that their regional representatives provided the regional election
commission with the information about several scores of dead voters.
“We submitted the list of dead voters to the CEC before the deadline.
However, in spite of our efforts, their names could be found on the
updated lists. We expect that the same will also happen during the
upcoming parliamentary election,” said Shatberashvili.
According to election observation organizations, that unlike the
presidential elections, the process to search out and purge names of
dead voters from election lists has become a complicated process in
the up-coming parliamentary elections. “In the past it was easy to
look through the election lists on the website of the CEC. However,
now that is impossible. You cannot find a person unless you have his/
her personal number based on an issued ID, or have access to his or
her Georgian Passport information,” said Ucha Nanuashvili, Executive
Director of the Human Rights Center. International organizations also
have complained about the reliability of voting lists.
Arrested Election Observer for “Not” Accepting Deal
Sabir Mekhtiev, an observer from the General-Civil Movement
“Multinational Georgia”, who was an active observer during the
Presidential Elections in 2008, was arrested. It appears that he was
not willing to accept the deal of Aflatun Valiev, representative of
the Sadakhlo Administrative-Territorial Unit Board.
On April 18 Aflatun Valiev called Sabir Mekhtiev and offered to stop
his active support for public activities and instead to start working
in favor of his interests. Aflatun Valiev also promised the detainee
to cancel Mekhtiev’s debt of 4,000 GEL in ProCredit Bank. Agit
Mirzoev, executive director of the Multinational Georgia, states that
during the presidential elections Mekhtiev observed a lot of election
legislation violations; he also witnessed the chairperson of the
Election Commission stuffing ballot boxes. Naturally, it would appear
that because of his activities that some in the local administration
wanted to get rid of him.”
The reason for his detention was the debt Sabir Mekhtiev took from
ProCredit Bank four years ago for the medical treatment of his four-
year-old child. However, after the death of the child, he could not
afford or was unwilling to pay off the debt. It is strange that the
ProCredit Bank decided to arrest Mekhtiev for the loan he had taken
four years ago, and just before the elections. Finally, the reason
given for Mekhtiev’s detention was that he put up resistance to the
representatives of the court in exercising an order. These people
arrived at his place on April 18, together with bank employees; they
were nearly 25 in all. The aim of their visit was to confiscate
property from his house in order to cover the loan. Pakhrat Musaev,
the lawyer of the detainee, said that Mekhtiev refused to give them
anything because everything belonged to his mother.
Five days later Sabit Mekhtiev was called at the police station and he
was accused of armed resistance. Rusudan Mchedlishvili, the lawyer for
the non-governmental organization “Article 42 of the Constitution”,
said that according to the law enforcers Sabit Mekhtaev was charged
for his “intention to go to the kitchen to get a knife from there.” In
this case, it is obscure why he was not arrested on the day of
incident, but five days later.
“This person became a victim of a law enforcers’ provocation. They
just wanted to arrest him and it became grounds for his detention.
However, there was no legal basis to detain him because if he really
resisted the executors, they should have arrested him immediately.
Thus, the reaction should have happened on April 18” and not five days
later.”
Sabir Mekhtiev is charged under the Article 353, Paragraph I of the
Criminal Code (resistance, threaten or violence against the defender
of public order or some other governmental official).
“Multinational Georgia categorically protests the detention of the
election observer and activities of the law enforcers. The
organizations now appeals to the public defender, Georgian society and
international community for assistance.
The organization actively monitors the pre-election campaign
throughout Georgia and has nearly 500 observers. According to the
organization, it is not the only case of control. On April 28 the roof
of Karina Bersgian’s office, who is a candidate from the United
Opposition, was set on fire. Several cases are observed in Kvemo
Kartli when school directors and public officials are threatened and
further suppressed. They have observed other violations too, such as
incorrect election lists, abuse of power by election administration
members, faking the vote count, attempted blackmail, and attracting
people to vote due to the distribution of products and vouchers from
the state budget, which is joined together with statements in favor of
the candidates from the leading in-government party of Georgia.
ELECTION DAY
The Human Rights Center has allocated following number of observers on
May 21:
* Tbilisi: 5 mobile observers
* Kakheti Region: 22 observers (several of them were mobile)
* Samegrelo Region: 53 observers (several of them were mobile)
* Shida Qartli Region: 9 mobile observers
* Akhaltsikhe: 1 mobile observer
The Human Rights Center together with the Coalition for Democracy held
three press-conferences on May 21. Conferences were held at 12:00,
15:00 18:00 and 21:00 o’clock. Only last press conference that was
held at the entrance of Central Election Commission (CEC) received
adequate news coverage.
Findings on the Election Day
The Human Rights Center observed fundamental breaches of the election
procedure in most of the polling stations it was observing on May 21.
The authors of those violations were either members of the local or
district election commissions or persons with unknown identity. The
situation had been tense since morning, with observers of the Center
not being admitted to the polling stations, despite having
accreditation badges from the Central Election Commission and personal
identity cards. Those observers who were admitted to the poling
stations were effectively prevented from carrying out their mandate by
the above mentioned subjects.
Concrete Facts of brutality
By noon the situation became quite tenser. Several observers reported
to have been subjected to verbal abuse. Soon after, facts on physical
abuse of the Center’s observers were reported. Mr. Ucha Nanuashvili,
the Executive Director of the Human Rights Center was a victim of
physical violence while he attempted to document acts of violence and
intimidation at several polling stations in the Kakheti region of East
Georgia. Mr. Nanuashvili had been observing Sagarejo Polling district
villages: Iormuganlo, Upper and Lover Lambalo, Tulari and Qesalo.
Persons of unknown identity have destroyed the video camera of the
Human Rights Center to prevent dissemination of the footage
demonstrating chaos and brutalities taking place in most of the
polling stations. A crowd of people tried to stop HRIDC’s car that Mr.
Nanuashvili was driving from leaving the village Lambalo by blocking
the road.
Polling Station # 37 in Lambalo-Koba Kupatadze, a beaten observer
Lagodekhi’s 15th election district, Kabali’s 18th polling station the
Chair of the Commission and its members physically offended Mr. Gela
Mtivlishvili observer of “The Human Rights Centre” who wanted to write
a complaint on the fact that election ballots were taken outside the
polling station. In addition, the Chair of the Commission was found
having 12 summary protocols, all of them filled in advance. After Mr.
Mtivlishvil detected this violation, head of commission hit observer
with a chair to his head.
Ballot box from Station # 18 in Lagodekhi DEC # 15 was held outside
the polling station for three hours and people were voting there
Elevated tensions were observed in Upper Lambalo’s 36th polling
station. Poll workers recorded various commission member carrying
several hundreds identity cards. Gangs of unidentified youth were
constantly engaged in various provocations and took part in arguments
at the polling stations. Several people were beaten by these young
people.
Nugzar Abulashvili and Guram Kakalashvili, the majoritarian candidates
of Lagodekhi and Sighnaghi region, visited polling stations together
with about ten people. It was reported that some of the individuals
accompanying Abulashvili and Kakalashvili had been recently released
from prison. They had entered polling stations and went about
terrifying commission members and election observers. In Sighnaghi, on
Sakobo’s polling station, Nugzar Abulashvili with the help of police
officers, twisted Nodar Kutibashvili’s (United Opposition commission
member) hand behind his back and with the application of physical
force, expelled him from the polling station. And, in the case of his
return, i.e., that Nodar Kutibashvili would attempt to return, the
threat was made that he would swiftly be killed.
At 14:00 about ten drunken men intruded in upper Lambalo’s 47th
polling station and stuffed several ballots into the ballot box. There
are 1069 voters on this district (11 on the special list). At 12
o’clock only 23 voters had voted, at by 1 PM - 24. By 2:00 PM those
who had intruded into the polling station had stuffed faked ballots
into the box. Concurrent to this incident, several people were
severely beaten, which included - Sandro Gagniashvili (Republican
Party), Mamuka Masurashvili (Labour Party), and Mamunka Masimov, the
Head of the Commission, were active participants in what appeared to
have been close quarters contact fighting. There were some police at
the polling station. They too were caught up in the fighting and were
beaten.
As a result of the extremely difficult and dangerous situation, the
decision was made by the Human Rights Centre to pull its observers out
from most of the polling stations in the Kakheti Region by 14:00,
which was done as a safety precaution, as it was deemed that its
observers personal safety could not be guaranteed.
A Journalist Physically Assaulted
The Human Rights Center observed the same kinds of incidents in the
Samegrelo Region. Ms. Nana Pajava, an observer of the Human Rights
Center and acting journalist has become the subject of both verbal and
physical abuse, and especially from Mr. Gela Tofuria and Mr. Kakha
Kuprava, both representatives of the National Movement. Upon arriving
at the polling station No 22 in the Abasha District No 63, Ms. Pajava
found out that the station had been closed. After entering the station
she tried to find out what had happened and questioned the local
chairperson, who refused to give any explanations. At this time the
above-mentioned National Movement representatives intervened, and as
described, their presence resulted in the undemocratic use of physical
and verbal abuse against the observer representing the Human Rights
Centre.
Elections in Samegrelo under Cloud of Murder and Unexplained
Explosions
Ketino Gejadze, the Human Rights Center observer spotted several
election violations in the voting precincts # 100 and # 64 of Rukhi
village, which are located on opposite sides of the main road. Also,
violations were at election station # 67. One of the observers in the
precinct # 100 overheard a conversation in the Mengrelian language
between the PEC chairperson and the member of the Christian-Democratic
Party. The Chairperson had offered the party representative to insert
an additional 50 ballots in the mobile “traveling box” and to round
that number out with 50 more in the main ballot box. The observer of
HRIDC took exception to the information that that was overheard and
wrote a corresponding official complaint.
The chairperson was rather discontent with the observer’s complaint
and he immediately called the police. The observer was then forced to
leave precinct # 100. A large number of police officers were then
mobilized at both precincts # 100 and # 64. They proceeded to apply
severe pressure on PEC members, the voters themselves, as well as
observers representing various NGOs. There were some reported
instances of voting with expired IDs and there were IDs presented that
did not indicate any actual addresses.
A man was killed in the village of Obuji, Tsalenjikha district at 10
o’clock in the morning. The shot which killed Geronti Katsia is
thought to come from a hunting weapon. The daughter of Geronti Katsia
was injured in the shooting. Katsia was considered to be the supporter
of the opposition parties. Opposition party leaders state that this
was actually a political murder.
On 20 May 2008 an observers team composed of Ivar Dale, and Aage
Borchgrevink, of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, went to Abasha in
the Samegrelo district (election district #63), and then to Svaneti
where they arrived in the early morning of 21 May. Observers stayed in
the Svaneti District (Election district #47) and observed opening,
voting and counting procedures at 7 polling stations. They also
visited the #47 DEC in Mestia, and interviewed voters, commission
members, and unidentified “visitors” at the polling stations. On 22
May the team went to the village of Khurcha in the demilitarized zone
on the border of Abkhazia, in order to investigate an incident which
took place.
In Abasha, district no. 63, observers received a complaint regarding
intimidation of a member of the DEC. Julieta Lomaia, b. 1968, DEC
member for the United Opposition (#7 on the party list, who
representet Konstantin Gamsakhurdia in the majoritarian elections in
that district). Ms Lomaia stated that she had received a number of
threatening phone calls, with the aim of intimidating her. She gave to
the observers a recording of a phone call from the number 891276415,
which contained a conversation in which an unidentified man swears and
shouts in a threatening manner at Ms Lomaia. At about 18.00 on 20 May,
observers went to the police station in Abasha to observe Ms Lomaia
register a complaint about the incident. The police (MIA officer
Mikheil Modebadze) first refused to register a complaint on what
seemed like spurious grounds (there was no one there on duty, they did
not have paper on which to write the complaint, they could not find an
official stamp), but after some time a complaint was lodged and
officially registered.
In Svaneti, district no. 47, a strong presence of civilian and
uniformed policemen, border guards, heavily armed unidentified special
forces with masks, and unidentified civilians whom locals claimed were
security officers from Tbilisi at the polling stations, were observed.
The heavy presence of security and police detachments created an
atmosphere of intimidation, especially in Mestia, the district center.
The opposition candidate Viktor Dzhabaridze made a number of
complaints about how his observers and commission members were being
harassed by police and security officers. The security and police were
driving around in cars, often without any license plates, some of
these claims were supported by pictures and witnesses, including
international observers.
According to the Ombudsman of Georgia, Sozar Subari, who was
interviewed by the team on 18 May, pressure was put on local
officials, including police officers, to support the government
candidates during the election. Allegedly, the head of police made his
officers swear on their badges to prove that they would actually vote
for the National Movement and its preferred candidates. Khakha
Kvitsiani, one police officer refused, and allegedly he was dismissed
from his job. Fortunately, such allegations have been confirmed by a
police officer from Mestia that was interviewed by the observation
team.
During the general opening, voting and counting procedures that took
place on Election Day, the process went smoothly, and relatively few
irregularities were observed. There were no video cameras in the seven
polling stations visited by the team. However, in conclusion, although
technical procedures were handled effectively by the Precinct election
commissions (PECs), the team made a number of observations indicating
that the election was carried out in an atmosphere of intimidation,
which may have impacted voting patterns in the district.
Below is a list of specific observations.
At PEC #2 in Mestia there was a strong presence of police and security
officers at the polling station. Some were in uniform, some were in
civilian clothes (but driving in vehicles of the border police), while
a group of what appeared to be Special Forces who were driving a
military truck (with the license plate number ZXZ – 342), and armed
with automatic weapons. They wore masks and approached the polling
station on several occasions. A man, who appeared to be in contact
with several of the police detachments at the polling station, then
entered the polling station. The opposition candidate Viktor
Dzhabaridze claimed that the man was actually a security official from
Tbilisi by who had the last name of Ochinkava. The man told us he was
only a private visitor from Tbilisi. However, he did not explain his
presence at the polling premises. There was a tense atmosphere at the
PEC.
Georgian Special Forces parked outside PEC#1 in Mestia, Svaneti during
Election Day.
At PEC #1 in Mestia there was also a heavy police presence outside the
PEC, including a detachment of armed and masked Special Forces.
The vehicle carrying Georgian Special Forces wearing masks on Election
Day in Mestia, Svaneti.
At PEC #22 some voters were turned away even though they were on the
list. The group of people who were turned away was a detachment of
border guards stationed in the village of Molakhi. According to one of
the border guards, Dzhimsher Margiani (b. 1968), he was told by the
PEC chair person he could not vote there, and that he and his
colleagues should go in a group to PEC #24 were they should vote
together. There seemed to be no basis in the election law for this
procedure, which was upheld by the CEC lawyer Elizbar Joparidze when
PEC members from political parties called the CEC. A member of the PEC
made a formal complaint about this, stating that this was an attempt
to put pressure on the guards to vote for the government candidate.
(We later asked the DEC about the procedure, they first claimed that
the border guards were registered in lists in several PECs, but then
retracted saying they only followed the orders of the CEC.) Only one
PEC member went with the mobile ballot box, not two as prescribed by
law.
There was a tense atmosphere at the PEC.
At PEC #3 observers received complaints from a PEC member about double
voting. However, she became silent when the other PEC members came,
and it became impossible to record her complaint in detail. Two men in
civilian clothes were at the polling station; they identified
themselves as “academics” from Tbilisi, but could not explain their
presence at the polling station. Observers had the impression that PEC
members were afraid to speak with them. PEC members did not always
check identification documents, and sometimes did not put ink on the
hands of voters.
At PEC #4 the Chairperson reported that three people had been turned
away as they had ink on their hands. Only one PEC member went with the
mobile ballot box, not two as prescribed by law. We had the impression
that PEC members were afraid to speak with us.
At PEC #5 the Chairman prevented observers from speaking with PEC
members and party observers. There was an independent domestic
observer from the organization ISFED there, by the name of Eka
Kvitsiani. While accredited as a local observer, when asked, she did
not know which organization she represented. When asked to explain
why, the Head of the DEC joined the conversation, told her to be
quiet, and started talking on her behalf. She claimed to have seen no
irregularities during Election Day. She also confirmed that she was
from the same village, and was a relative of the government candidate
in the Svaneti district. We had the impression that PEC members were
afraid to speak with us.
No irregularities were observed during the count in PEC #18 in Dizi
village.
The Khurcha Incident
On Election Day, 21st May 2008, Russian peacekeepers in the village of
Khurcha, inside the de-militarized zone on the Georgian-Abkhaz
conflict line, reported of shootings at around 14:00. Georgian TV
reported that buses carrying voters travelling from the Abkhaz side of
the Inguri River to Khurcha had been hit by grenades and gunfire, and
Georgian television showed dramatic images of exchange of fire,
burning buses and people running in panic. Later the same day,
President Mikheil Saakashvili travelled to Zugdidi and met with one of
the wounded at the local hospital. The incident received widespread
media coverage from both local and international media. The Georgian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement blaming the Abkhaz
side, with Russian support, for the provocation.
The team reached Khurcha at 11:00 the following day, 22nd May 2008.
Speaking to locals, officials and international military personnel,
the observers learned the following:
The buses did travel from the Abkhaz side of the Inguri to Khurcha,
carrying voters. The buses did not, however, go directly to the
polling station in the village, but instead drove the voters to a
soccer field nearby, situated close to the border between Georgian and
Abkhaz controlled territory. A large group of journalists and TV-
reporters had been brought there, to interview and film the voters
from the Abkhaz side. Eye-witnesses report that shooting broke out and
that people threw themselves to the ground. There were then three or
four grenades fired at the buses, hitting both buses direct. Following
this, heavy gunfire broke out, as Georgian soldiers and security
services personnel started firing towards the Abkhaz side of the
border.
The observers examined the site assisted by UNOMIG Military Expert
Anders Tegnborg, who noted that the smaller of the two buses had been
hit with what is likely to be an Under-slung grenade launcher. This
weapon has a very short range, and requires special training to use
with precision. The larger of the two buses was probably also hit with
an RPG, as it was damaged more extensively. One of the grenades missed
and hit the ground some thirty meters from the buses, indicating the
direction from which the grenades were fired. The grenades were in all
likelihood fired from the far side of the soccer field, in a direct
arch towards the buses, and this was at a distance of approximately
100 meters. At the spot where the grenades were fired from, large
amounts of cartridges of three different types were found. The
cartridges are from AKM, AK74 and PKM (more unlikely, SVD) of a Soviet
original make, these same calibers used frequently by both the Abkhaz
and especially the Georgian side.
The spot from where the grenades were launched, approx 100 meters from
the buses.
The governor of Khurcha declined to comment on the incident, but said
that he did not organize the transportation of the voters. It is
unclear who organized the busing of the voters, but according to the
governor, local officials and the local DECs were not involved.
Questions raised by the incident:
Local eye-witnesses explained that security forces in civilian
clothing were either already present when the shooting started, or
present shortly after, and returned fire. They were joined very
quickly by Georgian Interior Ministry personnel. Khurcha lies inside
the de-militarized zone, which means that Georgian military should not
be present there. The closest Georgian military post lies some 15
minutes away, driving on very bad roads, away from where the incident
took place, not allowing nearly enough time needed to react to the
sound of distant gunfire.
The rare and dramatic event occurred at the very moment when numerous
TV-reporters had been brought to the village for a pre-arranged media
show, effectively taking media interest away from numerous reports of
electoral irregularities and violent incidents coming in from all
parts of the country.
The two burned-out buses in Khurcha.
Local eye-witnesses all stated that they believe this incident was
staged by the Georgian (that is, their own) side, noting in particular
the fact that the passengers were brought not to the voting station in
the center of town, but to a soccer field, where so many journalists
had been brought in advance, and that it was very unclear who had
organized the busing, and the rapidness with which the Georgian
military arrived at the scene.
It was clear that the grenades were fired from within the Georgian
side of the conflict zone, and that this had also been done from a
very short distance.
That this incident took place during a staged media-show, playing into
the recent focus of the Georgian government into the Abkhaz conflict,
and that it involved further screen time for president Saakashvili on
Election Day, is entirely worth contemplation.
Cartridges left over from the shooting.
Khurcha Incident: Staged Provocation or Sinister Plot?
On May 21, the Election Day, two buses were blown-up near the village
of Khurcha in the Samegrelo region. The real reasons and names of
people who organized the accident have not been identified at this
time. There are several versions of the same incident. Some claim that
it was the Georgian government that is actually responsible for the
provocation, as it wanted to distract public attention away from
elections to a controversial incident. According to the second
version, the Abkhazian side opened fire on Election Day in order to
threaten people who had traveled to vote from the de-facto Abkhazian
territory, in order to participate in the Georgian Parliamentary
Elections. Regardless their guilt or innocence, there were innocent
victims, several passengers were wounded, and many questions remain
unanswered at this time.
People Beaten Over Phony IDs
Unidentified armed people attacked Roin Khojakadze, a representative
of the United Opposition and Zviad Pipia, the head of the election HQ
of the United Opposition as they traveled to various polling stations
shortly after leaving Zugdidi DEC # 67. Opposition party members were
beaten and their attackers then stole their money and seized their
documents. Even prior to this incident, a voter had entered PS # 24
with a fake ID under the name of Irakli Khofenia, born in 1988.
However, one of the observers discovered the address of the
registration was incorrect as it was similar to the address of one of
his family members. Some frightened and intimidated voters ran out of
the polling station and left their passport behind. Rostom Zhordania;
the observer proceeded to made copies of the one faked ID and then
informed his wife, who was observing PS # 26 about the incident. Also,
there were several witnesses in this instance. In one case Lali
Zhordania was followed into polling stations. Then she was approached,
and escorted out, searched and without having found anything, and
persons asked her if she would assisted them in finding some of the
missing ID that they would pay her 1,000 USD. A similar financial
arrangement was also offered to Rostom Zhordania. However, there is
doubt that the responsible institutions were actually involved in
providing the faked IDs. The observers presented a copy of the bogus
ID to Khojakadze and Pipia, commission members, and the two were later
beaten.
Journalists of the TV Companies Mze and Rustavi2 were at the polling
station; they were also attacked and beaten in the street; one of them
suffered a brain concussion as a direct result of the ordeal.
Asmat Muradashvili, an observer from the Human Rights Centre, reported
that the commission chairperson of the polling Station 100, in the
village of Rukhi, left the polling station and advised the voters who
had arrived by mini-bus to come to the station a bit later, as by then
the election observers would have already left. However, they stayed
there until the vote was completed at approximately 3:00 AM.
Simultaneous Distribution of Pensions with Ballot Bouncing during
Elections held in Zugdidi
In Zugdidi’s 67th district’s 27th election section (Zugdidi, Janashia
#1) following situation was observed: polling stations was not
isolated. There were two entrance doors in the room. One was destined
for voters; another was used by the branch office of People’s Bank,
which provides pensions for refugees. It’s noteworthy, that Election
Day is a legal holiday. Regardless, the People’s Bank located on the
territory of election room continued granting pensions to coincide
with the voting procedures. Bank customers frequently used the voter’s
door. As George Shervashidze, People’s Bank representative remarkably
declared, they “had forgotten that 21st of May was actually a legal
holiday”.
Near darkness prevailed at most polling stations in the Zugdidi
District
Election Deals in Samtskhe- Javakheti Region
According to the 12 p.m. figures, the population of Akhaltsikhe and
Adigeni Municipalities were rather active in casting their votes. In
Precinct # 28, Akhaltsikhe district the ballots were cast in the
ballot box which did not have a control sheet. However, observers
failed to write any complaints over this violation. Adigeni Precinct #
4 and Varkhni Precinct # 7 were opened half an hour later than the
time prescribed by law. The election was conducted with many
administrative violations in Abastumani Precinct # 2. The polling
station was overcrowded; voters had to pass through 3 rooms in order
to reach the ballot box in casting their votes. The registry was in
one room, the ballot booths located in a second room and the ballot
box in the third room. The principle of providing secrecy of voting
has been violated in this precinct as well. The voters said that there
was not adequate light in the booths. It was necessary for them to
come out of the booths into an open area to have enough light, which
constituted public confessional voting, a kind of “ear-marking”, as
almost everybody could see for which candidate a person had chosen to
vote for.
Ballot box stuffing at the Polling Station # 4 in Akhaltsikhe
There was a conflict in Abastumani Precinct # 2. Levan Lobzhanidze, a
representative of the Republican Party stated that Anton Merabishvili,
who represented the ruling National Party, offered him an illegal deal
in return for his assistance. However, Anton Merabishvili denied this
information. Nonetheless, the situation continued to be tense at this
polling station on Election Day.
Irregularities in Kartli
On Election Day the vast majority of polling stations were able to
start their counting of ballots by 8 PM. However, this was often
without the participation of representatives from opposition political
parties. Before 8 p.m. the Human Rights Centre came into contact with
many scared people, and sobbing women, in villages of the Gori
district. They had asked for assistance in being able to leave the
territory of the polling stations safely.
In two polling stations in Karaleti (Gori district) people were moving
from one polling station to another easily and openly. They even
confronted those people who were protesting this practice – it’s my
village and I am free to vote wherever I want.
In Karaleti there was a mass in the polling stations. Nino Sabashvili,
the member of the “Youth Republican Union” asked individuals without
any IDs to leave the room. In response, one of the unidentified
persons reacted by pushing her and breaking a photo camera.
Inga Bakhtadze, in the village of Plavisman, and a representative of
the Republican Party, was both verbally and physically assaulted.
However, she was not allowed to file a complaint in response.
Bakhtadze had no choice but to leave the station out of fear for her
personal safety.
In the village Tirdznisi, the majoritarian candidate Giorgi Mosidze
argued with the PEC members. Mosidze was concerned with the fact of
beating their member Zurab Kareli, who’s mobile was taken off.
Empty ballots that the observer from the Human Rights Center took out
of the pocket of the chairperson of the commission as he departed
polling station
At the second polling station, Lika Vardzelashvili, the representative
of the Human Rights Center and another representative of “Fair
Elections,” were both forced to delete photos from their mobiles. The
photos described the process of stuffing ballots in the voting box.
Irregularities in Batumi
Batumi’s 79th election district’s 66th section: Number of voters
equals 1087, though there were only two voter cabins, there’s no light
provided in the voting booths.
65th election district opened 20 minutes later. Voters’ list comprised
1441 people, though there are only 1400 bulletins printed.
The same situation was observed on 74th and 7th districts where the
numbers of voters exceed number of bulletins. On 73 districts, in
comparison with bulletins less than 20 envelopes were counted.
In Batumi’s 79th district’s 51 section’s observer Ira Adalova was not
given permission to enter the election section, because she didn’t
come at 7 o’clock, although later she attended the elections. She was
given permission to observe elections, only after getting information
that she was the National Movement’s observer.
In Sagarejo’s Azerbaijanian Villages Great Election Chaos Observed
In Sagarejo region, lower Lambalo’s 36 election district did not have
a door, the district was located in am open space, where it was very
hard to control flow of movements. Almost all election procedures were
violated. Commission members expelled observers from the polling
station three times. The Election box was illegally opened. Number of
bulletins on this district was 1350, and number of voters - 1394.
Members of Commission were unable to explain the reason. Head of
Commission, Ahdiman Mamakhardilov and Commission Member, Paata
Buzariashvili have twice hit the camera of “The Human Rights Centre’s”
operator, because he was detecting violations.
In Upper Lambalo’s 37th district an operator recording election
process and violations was beaten. He was backed up by the member of
United Opposition Koba Kupatadze.
In Tulari village, 48th district, marking process had not taken place
for two hours. The ballot box was not sealed. Voters’ list included
693 people and number of bulletins equaled 650. This district opened
at 9 o’clock instead of 8.
Upper Lambalo’s 47th district was opened at 9 o’clock. The control
sheet has not been dropped in the election box. On this district 1069
voters were registered, 11 voters were listed in the special list and
the total number of bulletins totaled 1049.
On 45th district of Qeshalo, observers were beaten, were expelled from
the building because of making remarks to the head of Commission and
his deputy. Other people were entering cabins and commission
representatives were themselves pointing desired number on the
bulletin. District does not have a door. In and out of polling
district posters with number 5 still are exhibited. Majority of voters
have voted without marking.
On Iormughlano’s 46th district there were 806 people in the voter’s
list, 13 in the special list, and were only 800 printed ballots. At
this site the representative from “The Human Rights Centre” faced
problems while observing the procedures of the polling station.
Several unidentified men were trying to take away his camera from and
tried to expel him from the polling station.
On 38th district head of commission have been marking the bulletins
for voter. Voting twice by the same voters was observed. List accounts
1233 votes, 53 people were in the additional list, there were 1156
envelopes and 1200 bulletins.
On the 48th district voter list comprises 691 people and the number of
bulletins was equal to 650. Marking of fingers with invisible ink did
not take place. Ballot box was not sealed as required by law. Early
in the day it was impossible to find the book where complaints were to
be recorded, and even after it was found, observers were denied the
opportunity to record their observations about faults and to
officially register their complaints. Usup Bairamov, head of this
commission at the district level denied their repeated requests. Aside
from procedures barriers to a normal election process, one of the
commission members told voters to circle number 5.
In the same district, election lists with signatures of voter were
already completed ahead of tinme, and registration procedures was
carried by an individual, who was not even a member of the commission,
which is was another documented additional violation of the election
code and standard procedure. The so-called carrousel (roundabout)
method of going from polling stations to polling stations and
returning later to vote at the same polling station was observed on
many occasions.
Birdog
<frieda...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ffe08860-2ac8-4619...@d77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
SKIP DOWN TO 'REPORT ON ELECTION FRAUD AND ABUSES' .....
On May 21, 4:13 pm, ++ <fri...@spambot.com> wrote:
> Dear Tootsie,
>
> I am sure you had a point. What was it? Misha is an endearing
> diminutive for Michael. So if you are not so fond of Saakashvili, why
> use a sweet name for him? In the English language, sometimes a more
> formal name can be negative. Thus, leave off a title but refer to the
> individual as Mr. Saakashvili or even leave off the Mr.and call him as
> Saakashvili alone.
`
And this 10,000 word tome relates to global warming how???
martin....@googlemail.com
for the no nonsense report on the May 21 Georgian Parliamentary
elections fraud and lack of any true transparency.
For once, NED has partially funded a project that enables democracy,
rather than DISABLE it. What other NGOs and governments fund the
Human Rights team there?
It was refreshing for at least once NOT to see the status quo lame and
limping US-style of journalism in this report, the alleged "fairness"
of FOX TV, which is not helping the citizens of the United States
today as the economy and job market tanks, and for the same reasons
that worn down at the heels method will never help citizens of other
nations in any event.
This report was done in the classic European style of reporting, and
it is about time something came out of Tbilisi that does not smell of
BP Oil pipeline forces nor the US State Department.
I have only one criticism. Couldn't you have used even MORE simple
Georgian voters complaints and citizens word of mouth in what they
felt, thought, and experienced, on that notorious day? And thank you
for not reporting the foul words that policemen were shouting at
voters in many of the voting polls. I was there, and what i heard had
my ears burning and such words should never be heard by children.
Martin
Cover Photo: Polling Station N 37 in
Lambalo-Koba Kupatadze, a beaten observer
June 2008
Human Rights Centre
(HRIDC)
Tbilisi, Georgia
Georgia’s Parliamentary Elections –
Unprecedented Brutality and Election Fraud
Monitoring of Elections of May 21, 2008
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................
5
PRE- ELECTION
CAMPAIGN................................................................................................
6
Diary of Pre-election
Terror...................................................................................................
6
Police Detained Member of Egalitarian
Institute...................................................................
6
Election HQ of Republic Party Raided in
Kvareli.................................................................
7
Local Stations Block Single Mandate Candidates from
TV..................................................8
Sighnaghi Police Hassles Opposition Party Members of Election
Commission...................9
Candidate from Opposition Party Unable to Rent Office
Space ...........................................9
Tbilisi Prosecutor Involved in Blatant Violation of Election
Law ......................................10
Republican Party Speaks about Repressions in
Kutaisi.......................................................12
Black List of Voter Riggers: Giorgi Mosidze Pointing-the-
Finger .....................................13
MP Candidates Bribing
Voters ............................................................................................
14
Political Squabble at Telavi University - Police refused to
investigate hooliganism of
National Movement
Members .............................................................................................
16
District Governors Run Election HQs in Kakheti
Region ...................................................18
Influence
Peddling ...............................................................................................................
18
Opposition Complains “Unequal Conditions” in
Gori ........................................................19
Detained Election Commission Members Intend to Apply to Strasbourg
Court ................21
Precinct Election Commissions Members Forced to
Resign...............................................22
Day of the Living Dead during Parliamentary
Elections.....................................................24
Arrested Election Observer for “Not” Accepting
Deal........................................................25
ELECTION
DAY ....................................................................................................................
27
Election Day
Findings..........................................................................................................
27
Facts of
Brutality..................................................................................................................
27
3
Physically Assaulted
Journalists..........................................................................................
30
Elections in Samegrelo, Cloud of Murder and Unexplained
Explosions ............................30
Findings of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee representatives on the
Khurcha incident.31
Specific
observations ...........................................................................................................
32
THE KHURCHA
INCIDENT.................................................................................................
34
Questions raised by the
incident: .........................................................................................
36
Khurcha Incident: Staged Provocation or Sinister
Plot?......................................................37
People Beaten Over Phony
IDs............................................................................................
37
Distribution of Pensions with Ballots in
Zugdidi ................................................................
39
Election Deals in Samtskhe- Javakheti
Region ...................................................................
40
Irregularities in
Kartli ..........................................................................................................
41
Human Rights Centre Observer Photo
Deleted ...................................................................
42
Irregularities in
Batumi ........................................................................................................
42
In Sagarejo’s Azerbaijanian Villages Great Election Chaos
Observed ...............................42
ELECTION VIOLATIONS IN THE KAKHETI
REGION....................................................43
Monitoring and Other
Complaints.......................................................................................
44
Observers Faced Deadly
Force ............................................................................................
49
Testimony of Davit Maisuradze, member of the Sagarejo DEC #
11 .................................55
Five Journalists Assaulted in One
Day ................................................................................
57
Special Forces inside Polling
Station...................................................................................
57
Violation of Voter
Privacy...................................................................................................
58
Dispersal and Beatings in
Sagarejo......................................................................................
60
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................
61
RECOMMENDATIONS.........................................................................................................
64
4
Human Rights Centre (HRIDC) is a non-governmental human rights
organization, without
any political or religious affiliations. The purpose of HRIDC is to
increase respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms in Georgia, as well as to contribute
to its democratic
development.
Contact Details: Human Rights Centre (HRIDC)
3a Kazbegi Ave., Entrance 2, 4th Floor, Apt. 22.
Tbilisi, 0160 Georgia
Tel: (+995 32) 37 69 50, (+995 32) 45 45 33;
Fax: (+995 32) 37 69 50;
Email: hr...@hridc.org
Web-Site: www.hridc.org
On-line magazine: www.humanrights.ge
Prepared by: Simon Papuashvili, Jeffrey K. Silverman
Cover Photo: Polling Station N 37 in Lambalo-Koba Kupatadze, a beaten
observer
The HRIDC wants to express its special gratitude to a number of
stakeholders for their
support to the Human Rights Monitoring Program: Black Sea Trust of the
German Marshal
Fund of the United States, the Lithuanian Embassy to Georgia, Cordaid,
the National
Endowment for Democracy (NED), Norwegian Helsinki Committee.
We would like to highlight the timely contribution that Ivar Dale and
Aage Borchgevink,
representatives of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, made in
documenting the Khurcha
incident, which took place on Election Day in the Georgian-Abkhaz
conflict zone. Their
timely and highly professional report has added much insight into the
understanding of the
2008 Georgian Parliamentary Election.
5
INTRODUCTION
The Human Rights Centre has been actively monitoring the level of
respect for human rights
by the Georgian Government for more than 10 years. The Centre has also
been actively
engaged in national elections as a part of its general human rights
monitoring activities.
HRIDC observed the snap-presidential Elections of 2008 and issued a
report of its findings.
The report can be found at the centre’s web page:
http://www.humanrights.ge/admin/editor/uploads/pdf/Preliminary%20Report%20of%20the%20HRIDC%20on
%20the%20Presidential%20Elections.pdf
When it was learned that Parliamentary Elections were scheduled to be
held in the spring of
2008, the Human Rights Centre focused its resources and professional
expertise on observing
a full range of activities and processes related to the Georgian
Parliamentary Elections. The
new parliament will now consist of 150 members, 75 elected from list
of political parties, and
75 as single mandate constituencies. These changes came about because
of amendments in
the electoral system, which followed other changes in the Georgian
Constitution and the
Unified Election Code.
The Centre’s objectives in this following the election process were:
first to determine how
closely Georgia’s electoral process adhered to accepted international
standards, especially in
several problematic Georgian regions where election violations had
occurred in the January
2008 snap-presidential elections; secondly, to increase the overall
degree of public awareness
about political processes taking place in Georgia; thirdly, to assist
in making the political
process in Georgia more transparent, not only for citizens but for
international stakeholders as
well.
The comprehensive goal in our concerted efforts has been to assist in
the consolidation of the
democracy that is unfolding or not, within Georgia. We are also
assisting in bringing about
open and transparent elections, and to further educate the wider
public in terms of the
developmental stage of fledgling Georgian democracy, especially since
the national media is
not been able or willing to provide sufficient and balanced coverage
to these problems.
This report is divided into two parts. The first section of the report
deals with the findings
from the Human Rights Centre during the pre-election campaign. The
second part reflects
the Centre’s experience and observations over the unfortunate events
that took place on
Election Day.
Unless otherwise noted, all information in this report is based on
data collected by the
observers of the Human Rights Centre and much of the same material is
referenced in its
online magazine on www.humanrights.ge The report also contains the
findings of the
Norwegian Helsinki Committee on Khurcha incident.
Finally, the report ends with a conclusion and several policy and
action related
recommendations that need to be implemented in the nearest future.
6
PRE- ELECTION CAMPAIGN
Members of the Human Rights Centre network have been actively involved
in the monitoring
of the pre-election campaign. The staff has been especially focused on
the level of adherence
to election procedures by various actors who were involved in the pre-
election campaign. We
wanted to see how closely the process conformed to procedures and
guidelines of the Central
Election Commission (CEC) and based on enabling Georgian legislation.
Various electionrelated
violations observed during the pre-election campaign can be classified
in the
following six different categories:
Direct and indirect threats to members of local and district
election commissions;
Direct and indirect threats towards voters;
Bribing of voters;
Preventing opposition leaders from meeting with voters
Active use of administrative resources by the ruling National
Movement party
Irregularities related to the voter’s lists
Specific examples of the above-mentioned types of violations are
detailed in the following
findings, which have been clearly documented by the journalists of the
Human Rights Centre.
Representatives of other organizations, including the media and
international observers, have
also observed the same pattern of violations, including intimidation,
pressure and vote
buying.
Diary of Pre-election Terror
This report contains detailed findings of opposition parties, who have
been unwaveringly
active in denouncing the Georgian government for supporting open and
blatant political
repression, acts of political terrorism and resorting to physical
violence. They have alleged on
many occasions that the ruling party, with the support of its
activists, including a network of
law enforcers, have resorted to “strong-arm tactics” in order to
ensure that they would prevail
in the upcoming elections. This campaign was supported by governmental
resources and
assisted by governmental employees. Supporters of opposition parties
have been openly
repressed and threatened with loss of jobs and other punitive
measures. Some of the worst
instances as described by nongovernmental organizations took place in
the Kakehti region of
East Georgia. However, these are not isolated cases to this specific
region. The case studies
and examples provided in this report are but a reflection of what had
transpired in
parliamentary elections on a national level.
Police Detained Member of Egalitarian Institute.
Mikheil Kachkachishvili, member of the non-governmental organization
Egalitarian Institute
was detained on May 9 by the “patrol police” in the run-up to the
parliamentary elections.
Fikria Chikhradze, a single mandate candidate from the United
Opposition in Telavi told how
law enforcers had illegally taken Kachkachishvili into police custody
while he was traveling
to a political meeting in Telavi, a regional town in East Georgia.
“They stopped his car based on a pretext and not for some actual
reason. When the police
were asked why they had pulled the car over, they only say that
because Mikhail looked
suspicious,” explained Fikria Chikhradze. However, it did appear to
eyewitnesses on the
7
scene that his detention was but an example of the government’s
willingness to use all means
at its disposal to frustrate and place stumbling blocks in the way of
opposition members, so to
prevent them from attending various meetings. Mikhail had only wanted
to participate in the
pre-election campaign on a level playing field, which should have
otherwise been afforded to
all political parties on an equal basis.
In this case, Mikhail Kachkachishvili was subjected to drug testing
for a controlled substance.
However, the test results only proved he was a member of a political
party and he was not
drunk at the time or under the influence of a controlled substance.
Nino Petriashvili, wife of the detainee, stated at the time that she
was actually driving the car
and not her husband. She claimed that the police had been following
the car all morning on
the day of the incident. “Since Misha [Kachkachishvili] was
subsequently released, patrol
police were only able to fine him because he had parked his car in the
wrong place. However,
as his wife noted, the police should have fined her instead.”
Election HQ of Republic Party Raided in Kvareli
On May 10, 2008, the election HQs of Vano Lomidze, single mandate
candidate from
Republic Party in Kvareli District in Kakheti Region was raided in the
village of Akhalsofeli.
Representatives of the Election HQ had their party’s flags and banners
ripped up and other
equipment in the office was deliberately vandalized. It was also
reported to Human Rights
representatives that the headquarters of opposition MP candidate
Giorgi Benashvili, of the
Dedoplistskaro district, had his banners and posters and election
materials torn to pieces as
well.
Republican Party members consider the incident to have been somehow
connected with the
visit of leading candidates on the election list of the National
Movement party. They had
visited Kvareli earlier that same day. “Our supporters asked critical
questions to the leaders
of the ruling party and they became irritated with the situation. As
soon as they departed,
local members of the National Movement took out their revenge on us,”
explained Mzia
Khutuashvili, a party member.
It was also asserted at the time that a criminal case was to be
launched by officers of the
Kvareli Police department. However, the members of the Republic Party
had little faith in the
outcome of any pending investigation. This is no surprise, as it was
later learned that Zaza
Gelashvili, single mandate candidate of the ruling party in the
Kvareli district, is also the
former head of the Kakheti Police Department.
8
Local Stations Block Single Mandate Candidates from TV
Merab Katamadze, single mandate candidate of the Republic Party in
Akhmeta District, told
HRIDC that as a consequence of the intervention of local authorities,
two Akhmeta district
TV Stations refused him the opportunity to air his pre-election
campaign advertisements.
Katamadze reported that despite the amount of time that had past since
the TV station had
been requested to provide this opportunity in a written form, the
local cable TV Company
“Kakheti” had postponed the release of the text supporting the
candidate in subtitles for two
days. Finally on the third day of when it was to go on the air, the
broadcast was suddenly
cancelled and without reason.
However, “It the station later claimed that the delay was over
technical problems and it would
take at least two weeks to resolve the problem. The station’s staff
from Akhmeta TV refused
to broadcast any of his pre-election campaigning materials. It was
told that an attributing
factor may have been linked to the history of the TV Company and the
nature of its
establishment. The TV station was founded by the District
Administration and the
justification provided was based on budget problems, as no financial
resources to pay for preelection
campaign broadcasts was allocated in the budget. However, in spite of
this claim, TV
Company Akhmeta actively aired meetings of Petre Tsiskarishvili, a
single mandate
candidate from the ruling National party,” explained Katamadze.
The candidate from the Republican Party also claimed that local
authorities suppressed
various media sources upon direction of Koba Burkiashvili, a district
governor. However, in
spite of the allegations, the governor denied being part of such
serious violations.
Furthermore, the administration of local TV Companies denied the
accusations of the single
mandate candidate. Davit Bagauri, the owner of the cable TV Station
“Kakheti” told media
representatives it would take nearly two weeks to be able deliver
equipment from located
Ukraine, which was needed to provide subtitles on the TV channel. Fati
Turkiashvili, director
of the “Akhmeta TV” then told that the TV Company was actually founded
by the district
administration and they were unable to decide anything on their own or
without receiving
prior consent from the top.
“In addition, they claimed that that they didn’t have journalists who
were able to carry out the
required work. They were told that “we mostly transmit programs that
are produced by
Rustavi 2. However, this is not always the case, as there are
instances when we air our own
produced programs, but this is limited at this time. Nonetheless, we
do not prepare news
programs at all. We simply don’t have the technical and human
resources available to
perform such activities,” stated Turkiashvili. He added that they have
already broadcasted
several items that demonstrated the activities of Petre
Tsiskarishvili’s pre-election campaign
9
Sighnaghi Police Hassles Opposition Party Members of Election
Commission
Sighnaghi police arrested Besik Khataishvili, commission member of the
Bodbishkhevi
election district in Sighnaghi Election Precinct in early May, as well
as arresting a
representative of the Republican Party. Tengiz Bezhashvili, lawyer for
Khatiashvili, reported
that police detained his client at the personal request of Tamila
Dzmanashvili. Dzmanashvili
is also the head of the Union of Sport Service Departments in the
Sighnaghi District
Administration. A suit was brought against a former employee working
in same department
for personal insults, as it is stated in the administrative appeal.
Tengiz Bezhashvili demanded
to be provided documents that would have justified his dismissal.
Beslik Khataishvili was running the boxing division of the Sport’s
Department. He was
discharged from this position on April 5, 2008. Khataishvili then
stated that the real reason
for the dismissal was that he was a member of the Republican Party.
However, based on
current Georgian labor legislation, Khatiashvil had the right to take
his dismissal claim to
court and demand that his position be reinstated. He explained, “I
visited Tamila
Dzmanashvili at the office on May 5 and asked her for a written
document about my
dismissal but she refused. I then categorically demanded that she
provide the requested
document but she still refused. I told her that she was breaking the
law and how I was going
to take her to court. However, she only laughed at me. I immediately
left the office. Soon
thereafter the police became involved. Dzmanashvili told them that I
had insulted her, cursed
or said something that was not to her liking. Other employees also
backed her up her story;
law enforcers then proceeded to arrested, and on that very same day.
The police interrogated
me and accused me of having committed a crime,” described Besik
Khatiashvili.
Zaza Khatiashvili, a single mandate candidate from the Republic Party
standing for political
office in the Sighnaghi district told how local authorities and the
National Movement, with
the support of the local police, had terrorized his political
supporters. He said that this was
because the village of Bodbishkhevi had been one of the difficult
election districts in earlier
elections held in the Sighnaghi election precinct, as it had not
supported the government.
As it was now clear, authorities had been unable to win Khatiahsivli
over with bribes or other
indirect methods. Another option was settle scores take with indirect
methods. Now he would
be labeled the status of a criminal suspect, which will enable the
ruling party to exert
maximum influence over him. Zaza explained “if I would put up
resistance to them then I
would be arrested, tried and found.” In this matter a criminal case
was launched under the
Georgian Criminal Code, Article 239, Paragraph I and a one-year-prison
sentence is possible.
Candidate from Opposition Party Unable to Rent Office Space
Despite every effort, Zaza Abashidze, single mandate candidate from
the United Opposition
in Gurjaani District, was blocked from renting office space in the
centre of the town for his
election campaign. Zurab Kandelaki, the head of the party’s election
HQ reported that they
had negotiated to rent office space with a number of people. In spite
of repeated efforts,
everyone we contacted refused to rent us office space. “Officially
they did not say anything
as for their refusal. Later, however, in private talks, they told us
that the local authorities had
warned them that they would have problems with police and/or the tax
department to do any
business with us. It would be better, as advised by the authorities,
it was highly recommended
10
for them to not rent out their office space to us. As a result, no
place for Zaza Abashidze’s
election HQ could be located, and he was only to open an office in the
regional office of the
New Rights Party,” explained the respondent.
The Human Rights Centre asked Giorgi Botkoveli, the head of the
Kakheti regional HQ of
the United National Movement and Irakli Kadagidze, the head of the
Kakheti Police
Department to comments over the allegations where opposition
supporters had been
repressed, and the Election HQ of the Republican Party in Kvareli was
raided However,
Botkoveli denied all claims and Kadagidze refused to comment.
Tbilisi Prosecutor Involved in Blatant Violation of Election Law
Gurjaani Election Precinct # 12 registered Giorgi Ghviniashvili from
the United National
Movement as a MP candidate through the majoritarian (single mandate)
system and as a
result, the Georgian election law was violated. The Georgian Election
Code established
requirements where certain allegations must be first considered by the
Central Election
Commission, and that Ghviniahsivli had not followed procedures. He
failed to provide proof
of having resigned from his job to the Precinct Election Commission,
as he did not supply
supporting documents that showed that he did not work at the same time
in the office of the
Tbilisi Prosecutor.
As stipulated in Article 94, Paragraph I-“p” of the Georgian Election
Code, within “two days
of a candidate announcing his aspirations for political office – and
in this instance, as an MP
running for political office at the national level, the law requires
that a notice be submitted to
the appropriate election commission. Concurrent office holders are
obligated to resign from
their positions.” According to paragraph II of this Article, a
“corresponding legal requirement
that the resignation was actually made should be immediately submitted
to the controlling
election commission at the district level – and if not, the person
shall be refused the right to
be registered as a MP candidate, or if this person has already
registered, the paperwork in
support of standing for political office shall be then annulled.”
Despite the clear requirements under the law, Gurjaani Election
Precinct #12 failed to follow
legal procedures and registered Giorgi Ghviniashvili as a political
candidate running in the
elections. This constituted a major violation of the election law
because he continued to work
as a prosecutor at the same time.
“In response to such grave violations on the administrative level,
only one member of the
election commission, Nana Jadugishvili, who represents the Republican
Party, took exception
to this instance regarding Ghviniashvili and refused to register him
as a candidate. She
provided the necessary legal arguments for her action. However, all
her efforts and to do
what was required by law and under her responsibility were made
without achieving the
desired results,” said Zurab Danelishvili, representative of the
Republic Party to the Gurjaani
Precinct Election Commission # 12.
Nana Devidze, regional coordinator of the International Society for
Fair Elections and
Democracy, also attended the same commission meeting that discussed
the registration of
various political candidates.
11
“I learned about the meeting by chance because there were no notices
posted. Moreover, the
commission also did not take the time to inform me about the meeting.
It now appears that
interested stakeholders were not allowed to attend the session in
order to determine whether
or not the commission had actually considered various legal issues.
Naturally it would have
been better if members of the commission had been professional in
their relations with
representatives of political parties, NGOs and journalists. Each
reporter had only two minutes
to make a short speech. However, if this person was in the middle of
making a statement,
they were not even allowed to finish their sentence before being cut
off,” said Nana Devidze.
Natalia Begashvili, the chairperson of the Gurjaani Precinct Election
Commission # 12 did
not comment about this situation. She also did not allow her deputy,
Zaza Kviralashvili to
speak with representatives of the Human Rights Centre on the subject.
Andro Shinjikashvili, representative of the CEC to the Gurjaani
Election Precinct
demonstrated aggressive behavior over election-related issues. He also
did not want to
comment about the complaints of election observers. Later, however, he
12
Nonetheless, it is clear from the statements of lawyers that the
alleged violations so evident
that Ghviniahsvili’s candidature should have been removed from the
official ballot.
Torsten Derik and Severin Chapaz, long-term observers of the
Observation Mission of the
OSCE, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Democratic
Institutions and
Human Rights Office, were informed about the registration of the
commission members who
were under a cloud of suspicion. It was noted during follow-up
discussions with local
observation organizations that they would study the situation in
detail.
Republican Party Speaks about Repressions in Kutaisi
Resignation letters were written on the behalf of the Election
Chairperson, and the
circumstances raised questions when a draft letter suddenly appeared
on his desk at the
headquarters of the Republican Party in Kutaisi on the morning of May
8, 2008. Republican
members of district election committee were soon informed that
Vladimer Nakashidze had
submitted a written resignation.
As reported, “instances of committee members’ faced with repression
and threats were on the
increase with each passing day. “They come and proffer their
resignation letters and they
don’t hide that their decision to resign was not freely theirs but
made under coercion. […] it
is those who don’t like normal political processes who forced us to
resign”. As one
respondent noted, “even when I asked why, they could only say that was
because the
chairperson of the district election committee had pressured them –
and they had no choice in
the matter; it is the government’s policy to force people to resign.
I really feel sorry for those individuals who had to write a letter of
resignation with tear filled
eyes; it has been these people that have really been threatened, They
are now just too afraid to
divulge any additional details”, stated Vladimer Nakashidze, a single
mandate candidate, and
who was the chairperson of a political organization based in Kutaisi.
Manana Leshkasheli, Eka Tvildiani and Leila Makharoblidze, members of
the 77th and 83rd
13
Leila Makharoblidze who refrained from making any public comment,
served as a committee
member during the snap-presidential elections as well. As Nakashidze
explained, one
commission member, Leila Makharoblidze had some serious problems with
the chairperson
during this same timeframe. There were too many family connections,
and she just happened
election committee members will do nothing about such acts on the part
of the government
and it enforcers.”
Another respondent, “Regional election committees are not in the
position to do anything in
response to such allegations. The “Republican party” has not
officially lodged any complaints
over the above-mentioned circumstances. Resignation letters of
committee members should
only be written on the behalf of regional committee chairperson
instead of Chairperson of the
Republican Party. Committee members are election administration
officials and they should
follow the legal instructions as the rule of how to work. They receive
their salaries from the
CEC budget and they should properly perform their jobs. Some committee
members even
intentionally go to election districts and make every effort to
provoke senseless arguments,”
explained Avtandil Osepashvili, the chairperson of Kutaisi 59th
district election committee.
Black List of Voter Riggers: Giorgi Mosidze Pointing-the-Finger
Giorgi Mosidze, a single mandate candidate from the United Opposition
in the Gori District
began his interview with the Human Rights Centre by saying that the
government intends to
carry out elections in the Shida Kartli Region with the support of
criminal elements. Mosidze
spoke about the policy where inmates were released from prisons
earlier than their sentences.
This was done to gain the support of their friends and families. In
return the National Party
expects that appreciation will be demonstrated at the ballot box in
supporting the lists of
candidates from the ruling National Movement.
Giorgi Mosidze also told how a candidate from the National Movement
had refused to take
part in a scheduled political debate Lado Vardzelashvili, the Regional
Governor, was ready to
debate with him. It is nice to see that the central media have ended
their boycott against the
United Opposition, which is something that is rather odd in the
history of world political
activism. As for the upcoming parliamentary elections, we feel that
there will be widespread
vote rigging, which will be the same as was the case in the
presidential elections of January.
14
15
Such charity and good deeds raises the question as why the
distribution of food products and
the provision of a bus cannot be placed on the same level as outright
vote buying? The
Human Rights Centre asked this question to Lela Taliuri, the head of
16
Movement – For Winning Georgia” and the demand could have been made to
forfeit the
official registration of this candidate.
On April 22, 2008 The “Georgian Young Lawyers Association” (GYLA)
lodged an official
appeal to the Tbilisi City Court and demanded the abolition of the
registration of the “United
National Movement – For Winning Georgia”. On April 24, 2008 the court
passed its verdict,
and addressed that despite
Paragraph 9 of Article 73 of the Organic Law of Georgia “Election Code
of Georgia” that the
transferring of money, presents or other valuable objects to the
citizens of Georgia is
forbidding.
However, in its decision the court considered that this law is only
intended to impose
restrictions under circumstances where the transfer was specifically
intended to win votes and
gain the continued support of citizens. In this case the court decided
that the provision of
inexpensive souvenirs could not be considered as activity that
demonstrates a candidate’s
attempts to win in the parliamentary election.
The lawyers of GYLA appealed the verdict of Tbilisi City Court in the
Tbilisi Court of
Appeals. However, the TCA board did not change the initial verdict
passed by the TCC.
Nonetheless, bribing voters is a felony under Article 161 of the
Georgian Election Code. A
one year term of imprisonment can imposed as a penalty. However, the
Georgian Ministry of
Internal Affairs explained that not a single case has been presented
for criminal investigation.
Political Squabble at Telavi University - Police refused to
investigate hooliganism of National Movement Members
Despite repeated demands of the non-governmental organizations and
information that has
already been distributed by media sources, the Telavi Department of
the Georgian Ministry of
Internal Affairs has not opened a criminal investigation over an
incident back on May 7, 2008
at Telavi State University. Lecturers and students of the university
were meeting with leaders
of the United Opposition in the university’s conference hall. Suddenly
activists of the
National Movement, the ruling party, rushed into the hall and
attempted to break up the
meeting. The activists were making recriminations and cursing Levan
Gachechiladze, Salome
Zurabishvili, Koba Davitashvili, and Fikria Chikhradze, as well as
other leaders of the United
Opposition. The ordeal continued for at least 20 minutes.
The incident started when Nukri Kantaria, a member of the “Georgian
Academy” was
making a speech. He had requested the audience to support Fikria
Chikhradze, a single
mandate candidate of the United Opposition in Telavi in the upcoming
parliamentary
elections. Suddenly, several young men rushed into the hall and began
shouting. One of them,
holding the National flag in his hand, shouted: “Who allowed the
opposition to hold meetings
in Telavi?!” They also proceeded to curse voters, even threatening
those who had gathered.
They told the group how they would inform the administration of the
local election HQs of
the National Movement, and make a list of those in attendance. The
situation became so
tense that both the supporters of the opposition parties and the
ruling National Party started to
argue with the uninvited intruders.
17
Levan Gachechiladze, the leader of the National Council of the United
Opposition, tried to
diffuse the situation by approaching the activists of the National
Movement and held out a
Rose to them instead of the National flag.” He told them that this
flag does not only belong to
the National Movement, as it is a flag for all Georgian citizens.”
Several minutes later the political “fighting” continued in the
corridor of the university. Farna
Makashvili, Imeda Kevlishvili, Davit Tushishvili and other members of
the ruling party stood
their ground and were not intimidated by the leaders of the United
Opposition and their
supporters.
“Having failed to restrain the members of the National Movement, we
contacted Gia
Papunashvili, the head of the Election HQ of the ruling party in
Telavi and asked him
whether or not he had received any information about the alleged
incident. He told that he
was in front of the university and told that he had actually sent
those people to the meeting,”
explained Nika Vardoshvili, a supporter of the United Opposition.
Youth from opposing parties even suffered some injuries. The head of
the Election HQ, Gia
Papunashvili also arrived at the scene. However, in spite of his
presence, no effort was made
to calm the situation. Levan Gachechiladze and Father Mikael, a priest
from the Telavi
Church, had both attempted to separate the conflicting parties and
bring about calm to the
situation.
Levan Gachechiladze, the leader of the opposition, later stated that
activists from the ruling
party had prevented them from being able to carryout a peaceful and
normal pre-election
campaign.
“This incident was organized by the ruling party. People should not be
harassed just because
of party sympathies,” responded Gachechiladze, who then turned his
attention on the tense
pre-election situation that existed in the Akhemta District. He
recommended to the head of
the Akhmeta Police Department, as well as to the District Governor
that they should bring an
end to tactics of political terrorism and the repression of voters and
their rights. Fikria
Chikhradze then promised the representatives of the ruling party that
he would leave Telavi
only after the “district would be set free from violence and fear.”
The incident was broadcasted on the same day by various TV stations.
The lawyers
considered the incident to have been criminal and demonstrating
characteristics of political
hooliganism. Moreover, they told that those responsible should be
criminally charged. And
specifically, the Telavi Police Department should open a criminal
investigation into the
matter. NGO representatives also demanded that an investigation be
opened. However, the
police chose not to investigate.
18
District Governors Run Election HQs in Kakheti Region
The Georgian Election Code requires that public officials from state
and local public agencies
cannot take part in the pre-election campaign, and especially at such
times when they are
carrying out their public duties. According to the same code, high-
ranking officials from the
local governmental agency must not use their position to support any
one candidate or party
over another during the pre-election campaign. Nevertheless, such
regulations were not
followed. This was clearly demonstrated when district governors were
the ones operating
Election HQs in the Kakheti region.
Several days prior, Gia Gozalishvili, Lagodekhi district governor,
told on local TV Station
that he had been put under a great deal of stress as a result of
actions of the ruling party, and
this was the case as he was meeting locals and making speeches
favoring the National
Movement. “I meet locals in the district almost every day. I listen to
their problems and tell
them the National Movement has done much and if the party will be
successful in the
elections they will be in the position to achieve even more,” said
Gozalishvili.
Influence Peddling
-Mr. Gozalishvili, are you making announcements in favor of the
National Movement
when you meet with locals?
-No, I am not; I never made any such a claim. I meet with people and
openly express my
support for the ruling party and this is only during non-working
hours.
- Officially, working day lasts from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. How do you
manage to meet
people outside of working hours; do you meet them at night or on your
days-off?
- I do not meet them at night but may be I meet them mainly on
weekends.
-But you are public official and according to the law you must not
take part in the preelection
campaign.
-And I do not participate in it.
-You are accompanying Guram Kakalashvili, a single mandate candidate
from the
National Movement, together with the director of the Resource Centre
and give
promises to teachers; how can you explain it?
-I do not accompany any candidate and neither have I given promises to
teachers.
Kakha Labuchidze, Gurjaani District governor, could not deny his
participation in the preelection
campaign of the single mandate candidate from the ruling party. He
personally
introduced Giorgi Ghviniashvili, the candidate, to teachers, personnel
of the district
administration board and employees of other public agencies in the
Gurjaani Culture Centre.
The district governor was standing on the scene during one hour
together with the candidate
and was answering the questions of the people. “I, Gurjaani District
Governor, promise you
that all problems you raised here will be resolved if you vote for
Giorgi Ghviniashvili,” said
Labuchidze.
19
Gia Chalatashvili, Sagarejo District Governor, also took part in the
pre-election campaign and
operates the district election HQ of the ruling party. However, after
many complaints,
including from the Human Rights Centre, the district municipality
board temporarily
suspended his responsibilities as a district governor.
One organization that closely monitored the election process in
Kakheti Region, blamed
Akhmeta, Sagarejo, Kvareli, Lagodekhi and Dedoplistskaro District
governors for having
violated the Election Code.
“District governors are fully involved in the pre-election campaign.
They meet voters along
with members of the ruling party. Moreover, governors monitor the
activities of the activists
of the party. “We were able to get hold of the document from one of
the election HQs of the
National Movement. In the document district governors are named as
heads of the election
HQs and their contact information is provided there,” stated
representatives of the Human
Rights Centre.
They also added that long-term observers of the OSCE Democratic
Institutions and Human
Rights Office also have similar documents; though they have received
them from other
election HQ representing the ruling party. Nonetheless,
representatives of the Kakheti
Regional Election HQ of the United National Movement and Regional
Administration
categorically deny all allegations.
Giorgi Botkoveli, the head of the Kakheti regional election HQ,
reported that district
governors do not run election HQs. “Lia Mamagulashvili is the head of
Akhmeta Election
HQ; Levan Jamalashvili runs the Dedoplistskaro HQ; Gocha Shavgulidze
runs Kvareli HQ;
Gela Gelashvili runs Lagodekhi HQ; Gogita Sibashvili runs Gurjaani HQ;
Rezo Benashvili
runs Sighnaghi HQ; Gia Papunashvili runs Telavi HQ and Gia
Chalatashvili runs Sagarejo
Opposition Complains “Unequal Conditions” in Gori
Locals had predicted early that pre-election campaign among the
candidates of majority
membership of the parliament would very tough. The opposing sides of
the National
Movement and United Opposition was added with yet a third side, Jumber
Patiashvili who
also will be participating in the balloting. The added Patiashvili’s
factor had turned
everything upside down in Gori. Local authorities were at lost how to
act under the
circumstances. The election HQ of the leading party works very hard
and puts in overtime in
trying to land on its feet, and there were many layers and networks
involved in local
elections.
The government first suspected that the main opponent from the side of
the United
Opposition would be Teo Tlashadze, a supporter of Irakli Okruashvili,
former Georgia
Minister of Defense. However, the dynamics of the situation soon
changed, and the ruling
party was further disappointed that Tlashadze decided not to stand for
political office. Levan
Terashvili, another candidate, who had been an advisor to Irakli
Okruashvili in various
spheres. While Gori residents expected Tlashadze and Terashvili to
start quarreling in the
election HQ of the National Council as who would come next, the United
Opposition
introduced Giorgi Mosidze as its candidate in Gori. Mosidze’s father
has been the leader of
Gori Musical Choir and he was closely linked to the Gori district.
20
On April 22 the United Opposition officially introduced their
candidate to voters in Gori.
Giorgi Mosidze, one of the leaders of the New Rights, was shared with
potential voters as
their candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Mosidze stated in the HQ several days before the introduction that the
authority intended to
win the elections in Gori with the support of the police. It means
that the law enforcers
intended to put pressure opposition activists and members of parties
that did not support the
government. Zurab Chinchilakashvili, Deputy Regional Governor, reacted
to Mosidze’s
statement and called them as totally absurd.
As for Jumber Patiashvili, reportedly he was introduced after the
“Entrepreneurs” created an
alliance with his political movement “Ertoba”. Patiashvili then became
a majoritarian MP
(single mandate) from Gori and was Irakli Okruashvili, being elected
as majority MP back in
2003; he even refused to enter the parliament and joined with
executive government.
The Patiashvili’s factor had a major impact on Gori’s political space,
which was at the
expense of the “National Movement” and which at the time, had wanted
to present its own
candidate. In 2004, it was also claimed that they wanted to offer Gogi
Mchedlishvili from
“Burjanadze-Democrats” to Gori population. However, Okruashvili
21
Detained Election Commission Members Intend to Apply to
Strasbourg Court
Zaza Khatiashvili, single mandate candidate from Republic Party in
Sighnaghi District and
lawyer Tengiz Bezhashvili held a press-conference at the Human Rights
Centre’s Kakheti
Office on May 16. Khatiashvili stated that he intends to appeal to the
European Court of
Human Rights in Strasbourg against the detention of Besik
Khatiashvili, member of the
Bodbiskhevi District Election Commission and member of the Republician
Party.
Reportedly, Sighnaghi police arrested Khatiashvili based on request of
Tamila Dzmanashvili,
the head of District Sport Department for yet a second time.
Dzmanashvili then blamed him
to do the same now and I will do my best to avoid visiting the police
station,” said the
attorney.
The attorney added that local authority and National Movement
terrorize supporters of the
Republican Party. “Bodbiskhevi Election District is one of the most
complicated districts in
the Sighnaghi Election Precinct. They could not do anything about
Besik Khatiashvili, they
could not even get a bribe from him, and they tried to punish him
using such a method,” said
Bezhashvili. According to the Sighnaghi District Organization of the
Republic Party, during
the Presidential Elections on January 5 2008 Mikheil Saakashvili
gained more votes at
Bodbiskhevi Election District than were the actual number of voters
who cast their ballots.
22
23
Former PEC members, who were terminated, demonstrating in front of the
DEC
building in Gurgaani, Human Rights Centre Photo
Mr. Danielashvili, “I was at a meeting where the request of the Public
Defender was to be
discussed. Upon questioning over I had witnessed I listed blatant
violations that were
observed in the districts. Consequently, Levan Tarkhnishvili, the
chairperson of the CEC, his
deputy and Gizo Mchedlidze, secretary of the CEC became especially
irritated. Members of
the CEC would not allow me to fully describe all the violations. I was
then expelled from the
meeting, during the process they were shouting to the guard and he was
ordered to physically
drag me away. However, I did not put up any resistance and left on my
own accord.”
“Later I learned that CEC had administratively fired me, and the
period of my employment
was less than what was stipulated under my employment contract. The
legal basis for the
decision was based on a claim that I had blatantly and systematically
breached a standing
order. In fact, the administration of the CEC could not tolerate that
I, despite their repression,
even had the nerve to speak up about violations observed during the
elections.
- Mr. Danielashvili, As far as we know, you have appealed against the
CEC decision at
the court and you request to re-appoint you to your position. What did
the judge
decide?
- As I have already mentioned, I did not break any rules. Even though
things happened as I
described, the CEC had to pass resolution on my resignation within
five days, which is based
on Article 21, Paragraph III of the Georgian Election Code. However,
the commission did not
follow the law. Tamar Shushiashvili, judge at the Administrative Case
Collegium at the
Tbilisi City Court, stated in her decision that was passed on February
8, 2008 that “five day
term was breached but it was not the kind of violation that would have
impacted the final
decision that was concluded in this particular case. Basically, the
judge failed to satisfy my
appeal.”
- How were you violated and who repressed you?
- On the next day of the elections when I learned the final reports of
the election districts,
complaints of the observers and other documents, I then was able to
find many violations in
them; I also informed other members of the commission of my
observations. Next day, on
January 7 Valeri Vardosanidze called me on the phone and introduced
himself to me as the
Deputy District Governor. He asked what complaints I had regarding the
reports from the
election districts. I told him that the results of the presidential
elections and plebiscite for
NATO did not coincide with each other in the reports. The candidates
had received more
votes than were the actual number who cast their votes. I added that
there were some other
facts of violations. However, he advised me to keep silent. On the
same day my relative
visited me and informed me about the demand on the side of the
government. I replied to him
that clear-cut vote rigging was observed in specific election
districts and I would not keep
silent. Then MP Ioseb Kardenakhishvili called me soon thereafter and
said I could ask him
everything I wanted to know. I told the same to the MP claiming the
rigging was widespread
and it could not be hidden. Kardenakhishvili did not threaten me
directly but there can be
repression, and it is not necessary to do in a threatening way. I was
then called from the
police department and prosecutor’s office. However, still I did not
change my position.
24
On January 8, Tamaz Khutsishvili, my former colleague and former
worker at the Military
Commissariat visited me at my office together with two others. He
asked me out to
accompany them to their car where we sat and discussed. Khutsishvili
then reminded me that
he had served a prison term, something that I had not remembered. He
then explained to me
that he was discharged in exchange for his support to the National
Movement. So, if I did not
keep silent about the violations, he would be arrested again and
return to prison.
specific complaints about being repressed. They only make groundless
statements,” said
Levan Tarkhnishvili.
Kakha Nareklishvili, representative of the CEC, explained that Zurab
Danelishvili’s
accusation about his illegal firing from the job is also groundless
and a court of law has also
confirmed it.
Day of the Living Dead during Parliamentary Elections
According to Article 9 of the Georgian Election Code, the deadline for
making changes into
the election lists has already expired. May 9th was the last day where
changes could have
been made to the election lists based on recent court decisions.
However, according to the
request of opposition parties, the CEC prolonged the period for
changes until May 13.
According to the most recent data, 3,461, 851 citizens are registered
as voters on the election
lists. However, in spite of good intentions and many comments of
observing organizations,
dead people are included on the lists.
Tsiala Lamazoshvili, Guram Mchedlishvili, Tariel Amonashvili and
Giorgi Nanichashvili,
died in 2007-2008, and are included on the election lists at election
districts # 14, 15 of the
Telavi Election Precinct # 17.
25
Natalia Begashvili, chairperson of the Gurjaani Precinct Election
Commission # 12, states
that they have removed nearly 300 dead people from the list. However,
Zurab Kandelaki, the
head of the District Election HQ for the United Opposition, told that
there are still dead
people on the lists.In spite of the claim that those who have died
were also removed from the
lists last year, the names still appear on voter lists.” How so many
dead found their way back
to a list of supposedly live voters. Regardless, there are the names
of many deceased voters
still on the list. For instance, Aleksi Lomidze, born in 1929, and
Giorgi Varsimashvili born in
1938, etc,” stated Zurab Kandelaki, and the list of dearly departed
You cannot find a person unless you have his/her personal number based
on an issued ID, or
have access to his or her Georgian Passport information,” said Ucha
Nanuashvili, Executive
Director of the Human Rights Centre. Various International
organizations also have
complained about the reliability and integrity of voting lists.
Arrested Election Observer for “Not” Accepting Deal
Sabir Mekhtiev, an observer from the General-Civil Movement
“Multinational Georgia”, who
was an active observer during the Presidential Elections in 2008, was
arrested. It appears that
he was not willing to accept the deal of Aflatun Valiev,
representative of the Sadakhlo
Administrative-Territorial Unit Board.
On April 18 Aflatun Valiev called Sabir Mekhtiev and offered to stop
his active support for
public activities and instead to start working in favor of his
interests. Aflatun Valiev also
promised the detainee to cancel Mekhtiev’s debt of 4,000 GEL in
ProCredit Bank. Agit
Mirzoev, executive director of the Multinational Georgia, states that
during the presidential
elections Mekhtiev observed many election legislation violations; he
also witnessed the
chairperson of the Election Commission personally stuffing a ballot
box. Naturally, it would
appear that because of his activities that some in the local
administration wanted to get rid of
him.”
Sabir Mekhtiev was detained over a bad debt he took from ProCredit
Bank four years ago for
the medical treatment of his four-year-old child. However, after the
death of the child, he
could not afford or was unwilling to pay off the debt. It is strange
that the ProCredit Bank
26
decided to arrest Mekhtiev for the loan he had taken four years ago,
and the decision just
happened to be made before the elections. Finally, the reason given
for Mekhtiev’s detention
was that he put up resistance to the representatives of the court in
exercising an order. These
people arrived at his place on April 18, together with bank employees;
they were nearly 25 in
all. The aim of their visit was to confiscate property from his house
in order to cover the loan.
Pakhrat Musaev, the lawyer of the detainee, said that Mekhtiev refused
to give them anything
because everything in the house belonged to his mother.
vote count, attempted blackmail, and encouraging people to vote in
association to the
distribution of products and vouchers from the state budget, which is
joined together with
political statements supporting candidates from the leading in-
government party of Georgia.
27
ELECTION DAY
The Human Rights Centre has allocated following number of observers on
May 21:
Tbilisi: 5 mobile observers
Kakheti Region: 22 observers (several of them were mobile)
Samegrelo Region: 53 observers (several of them were mobile)
Shida Qartli Region: 9 mobile observers
Batumi: 6 observers
Akhaltsikhe: 1 mobile observer
The Human Rights Centre together with the Coalition for Democracy held
three pressconferences
on May 21. Conferences were held at 12:00, 15:00 18:00 and 21:00
o’clock.
Only last press conference that was held at the entrance of Central
Election Commission
(CEC) received adequate news coverage.
Election Day Findings
The Human Rights Centre observed fundamental violations of election
procedure in the
majority the polling stations observed on May 21. Those responsible
for those violations were
either members of the local or district election commissions or
persons with unknown
identity. The situation had been tense since morning, with observers
of the Centre not being
allowed to enter polling stations, despite having accreditation badges
officially issued by the
Central Election Commission. Even those observers who were admitted to
the poling stations
were effectively prevented from being able carry out their mandate by
members of election
commissions.
Facts of Brutality
By noon the situation became tenser. Several observers reported to
have been subjected to
verbal abuse. Soon after, facts on physical abuse of the Centre’s
observers were reported. Mr.
Ucha Nanuashvili, the Executive Director of the Human Rights Centre
was a victim of
physical violence while he attempted to document acts of violence and
intimidation at several
polling stations in the Kakheti region of East Georgia.
Mr. Nanuashvili had been observing Sagarejo Polling district villages:
Iormuganlo, Upper
and Lover Lambalo, Tulari and Qesalo. Persons of unknown identity have
destroyed the
video camera of the Human Rights Centre to prevent dissemination of
the footage
demonstrating chaos and brutalities taking place in most of the
polling stations. A crowd of
people tried to stop HRIDC’s car that Mr. Nanuashvili was driving from
leaving the village
Lambalo by blocking the road.
Lagodekhi’s 15th election district, Kabali’s 18th polling station the
Chair of the Commission
Adalat Sardarov and its members physically offended Mr. Gela
Mtivlishvili observer of “The
Human Rights Centre” who wanted to write a complaint on the fact that
election ballots were
taken outside the polling station.
28
Pictured above, Adalat Saradov, Chairman of the Lagodechi’s 15th
Election District No
18 Polling Station, physically abused Gela Mtivlishvili, the Human
Rights Centre’s
Kakheti Regional Coordinator, when Mtivlishvili was trying to document
election
fraud, photo taken by the Human Rights Centre Observer
In addition, the Chair of the Commission was found having 12 summary
protocols, all of
them filled in advance. After Mr. Mtivlishvil detected this violation,
head of commission hit
observer with a chair to his head.
29
Ballot box from Station # 18 in Lagodekhi DEC # 15 was kept outside
the polling station
for three hours and people were casting their votes there, photo taken
by the Human
Rights Centre observer
High tensions were observed in Upper Lambalo’s 36th polling station.
Poll workers reported
various commission member carrying several hundreds identity cards.
Gangs of unidentified
youth were constantly involved in a range of provocations, including
verbal arguments.
Several people were beaten by these gangs of youth.
Nugzar Abulashvili and Guram Kakalashvili, the majoritarian candidates
of Lagodekhi and
Sighnaghi region, were noted moving from polling station to polling
station in the company
of a troop of approximately ten people. It was reported that some of
the individuals with them
had just recently been released from prison. They had entered polling
stations terrified
commission members as well as election observers. In Sighnaghi, on
Sakobo’s polling
station, Nugzar Abulashvili with the help of police officers, twisted
Nodar Kutibashvili’s
(United Opposition commission member) hand behind his back and with
the application of
physical force, expelled him from the polling station. And, in the
case of his return, i.e., that
if Nodar Kutibashvili would make any attempt to return, and then he
would be killed.
30
At 14:00 about ten drunken men aggressively entered the upper
Lambalo’s 47th polling
station and stuffed several ballots into the ballot box. There are
1069 voters on this district
(11 on the special list). At 12 o’clock only 23 voters had voted, at
by 1 PM - 24. By 2:00 PM
those who had intruded into the polling station had stuffed faked
ballots into the box.
Concurrent to this incident, several people were severely beaten,
which included - Sandro
Gagniashvili (Republican Party), Mamuka Masurashvili (Labour Party),
and Mamunka
Masimov, the Head of the Commission, were active participants in what
appeared to have
been some close quarters contact fighting. There were some police at
the polling station, they
too were caught up in the fighting and some suffered injuries.
As a result of the extremely difficult and dangerous situation, the
decision was made by the
Human Rights Centre to pull its observers out from most of the polling
stations in the Kakheti
Region by 14:00, which was done as a safety precaution, as it was
deemed that its observers
personal safety could not be guaranteed.
Physically Assaulted Journalists
The Human Rights Centre observed the same kinds of incidents in the
Samegrelo Region.
Ms. Nana Pajava, an observer of the Human Rights Centre and acting
journalist has become
the subject of both verbal and physical abuse, and especially from Mr.
Gela Tofuria and Mr.
Kakha Kuprava, both representatives of the National Movement. Upon
arriving at the polling
station No 22 in the Abasha District No 63, Ms. Pajava found out that
the station had been
closed. After entering the station she tried to find out what had just
happened and questioned
the local chairperson, who refused to share any information. At this
time the abovementioned
National Movement representatives intervened, and as described, their
presence
resulted in the “undemocratic use” of physical and verbal abuse
against the observer
representing the Human Rights Centre.
Elections in Samegrelo, Cloud of Murder and Unexplained
Explosions
Ketino Gejadze, the Human Rights Centre observer spotted several
election violations in the
voting precincts # 100 and # 64 of Rukhi village, which are located on
opposite sides of the
main road. Also, violations were at election station # 67. One of the
observers in the precinct
# 100 overheard a conversation in the Mengrelian language between the
PEC chairperson and
the member of the Christian-Democratic Party. The Chairperson had
offered the party
representative to insert an additional 50 ballots in the mobile
“traveling box” and to round
that number out with 50 more in the main ballot box. The observer of
HRIDC took exception
to the information that that was overheard and he then wrote an
official complaint.
The chairperson was rather discontent with the observer’s complaint
and he immediately
called the police to intervene. The observer was then forced to leave
precinct # 100. A large
number of police officers were then mobilized at both precincts # 100
and # 64. They
proceeded to apply severe pressure on PEC members, the voters
themselves, as well as
observers representing various NGOs. There were some reported
instances of voting with
expired IDs and there were IDs presented that did not indicate any
real addresses.
31
A man was killed in the village of Obuji, Tsalenjikha district at 10
o’clock in the morning.
The shot that killed Geronti Katsia is thought to come from a hunting
weapon. The daughter
of Geronti Katsia was injured in the shooting. Katsia was considered
to be the supporter of
the opposition parties. Opposition party leaders state that this was
actually a politically-based
murder.
Findings of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee representatives on
the Khurcha incident
On 20 May 2008 an observers team composed of Ivar Dale, and Aage
Borchgrevink, of the
Norwegian Helsinki Committee, went to Abasha in the Samegrelo district
(election district
#63), and then to Svaneti where they arrived in the early morning of
21 May. Observers
stayed in the Svaneti District (Election district #47) and observed
opening, voting and
counting procedures at 7 polling stations. They also visited the #47
DEC in Mestia, and
interviewed voters, commission members, and unidentified “visitors” at
the polling stations.
On 22 May the team went to the village of Khurcha in the demilitarized
zone on the border of
Abkhazia, in order to investigate a violent incident that had taken
place, which was related to
the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict and voters from the Gali region (detailed
report provided).
In Abasha, district no. 63, observers received a complaint regarding
intimidation of a member
of the DEC. Julieta Lomaia, DEC member for the United Opposition (#7
on the party list,
who representet Konstantin Gamsakhurdia in the majoritarian elections
(single-mandate
constituencies) in that district. Ms Lomaia stated that she had
received a number of
threatening phone calls, which were intended to intimidate her. She
shared the observers a
recording of a phone call from the number 891276415, which contained a
conversation in
which an unidentified man swears and shouts in a threatening manner at
Ms Lomaia. At
about 18.00 on 20 May, observers went to the police station in Abasha
to observe Ms Lomaia
register a complaint about the incident. The police (MIA officer
Mikheil Modebadze) first
refused to register a complaint on what seemed like spurious grounds
(there was no one there
on duty, they did not have paper on which to write the complaint, they
could not find an
official stamp), but after some time a complaint was lodged and
officially registered.
In Svaneti, district no. 47, a strong presence of civilian and
uniformed police officers, border
guards, heavily armed unidentified Special Forces with masks, and
unidentified civilians
whom locals claimed were security officers from Tbilisi at the polling
stations, were
observed. The heavy presence of security and police detachments
created an atmosphere of
voter intimidation, especially in Mestia, the district centre. The
opposition candidate Viktor
Dzhabaridze made a number of complaints about how his observers and
commission
members were being harassed by police and security officers. The
security and police were
driving around in cars, often without any license plates, some of
these same claims were
supported by photos and other witnesses, including international
observers.
According to the Ombudsman of Georgia, Sozar Subari, who was
interviewed by the team on
18 May, pressure was put on local officials, including police
officers, to support the
government candidates during the election. Allegedly, the head of
police made his officers
swear on their badges to prove that they would actually vote for the
National Movement and
its preferred candidates. Khakha Kvitsiani, one police officer
refused, and it is alleged that he
was then fired from his job. Fortunately, in order to provide
verification, such serious
32
allegations have been confirmed by a police officer from Mestia who
was later interviewed
the observation team.
Opening of stations went without too many problems. However, things
began to get worst as
later in the day, and this was especially the case with actual voting
and counting procedures
The situation may have been even worst than noted, as there video
cameras were not present
in the seven polling stations visited by the team. Moreover, not all
was could have transpired
was documented as observers moved from polling station to polling
station. However, in
conclusion, although technical procedures were handled effectively by
the Precinct election
commissions (PECs), the team made a number of observations indicating
that the election
was carried out in an atmosphere of overall intimidation, which may
have greatly impacted
voting patterns in the district, not to mention low voter turnout.
Specific observations
At PEC #2 in Mestia there was a strong presence of police and security
officers at the polling
station. Some were in uniform, some were in civilian clothes (but
driving in vehicles of the
border police), while a group of what appeared to be Special Forces
who were driving a
military truck (with the license plate number ZXZ – 342), the
passengers were armed with
automatic weapons. They wore masks and approached the polling station
on several
occasions. A man, who appeared to be in contact with several of the
police detachments at the
polling station, then entered the polling station. Viktor Dzhabaridze,
an opposition candidate
claimed that the man was actually a security official from Tbilisi by
who had the last name of
Ochinkava. The man told us he was only a private visitor from Tbilisi.
However, he did not
explain his presence at the polling premises. There was a tense
atmosphere at the
PEC.
Georgian Special Forces parked outside PEC#1 in Mestia, Svaneti during
Election Day.
33
At PEC #1 in Mestia there was also a heavy police presence outside the
PEC, including
a detachment of armed and masked Special Forces. Taken by Norwegian
Helsinki
Committee Representatives
The vehicle carrying Georgian Special Forces wearing masks on Election
Day in Mestia,
Svaneti. Photo taken by Norwegian Helsinki Committee Representatives
At PEC #22 some voters were turned away even though they were on the
list. The group of
people who were turned away was a detachment of border guards
stationed in the village of
Molakhi. According to one of the border guards, Dzhimsher Margiani, he
was told by the
PEC chair person he could not vote there, and that he and his
colleagues should go in a group
to PEC #24 were they should vote all together. There seemed to be no
basis in the election
law for this procedure, which was upheld by the CEC lawyer Elizbar
Joparidze when PEC
members from political parties called the CEC. A member of the PEC
made a formal
complaint about this, stating that this was an attempt to put pressure
on the guards to vote for
the government candidate. (We later asked the DEC about the procedure,
they first claimed
that the border guards were registered in lists in several PECs, but
then refrained from saying
that they had only followed the orders of the CEC.) Only one PEC
member went with the
mobile ballot box, not two as prescribed by law. There was a tense
atmosphere at the PEC.
At PEC #3 observers received complaints from a PEC member about double
voting.
However, she stopped talking when the other PEC members arrived it was
impossible to fully
34
record her complaint. Two men in civilian clothes identified
themselves as “academics” from
Tbilisi but they could not explain their presence at the polling
station. PEC members did not
always check identification documents, and sometimes did not put ink
on the hands of voters.
At PEC #4 the Chairperson reported that three people had been turned
away as they had ink
on their hands. Only one PEC member went with the mobile ballot box,
not two as prescribed
under the law. We were under the impression that PEC members were
afraid to speak with
us.
At PEC #5 the Chairman prevented observers from speaking with PEC
members and party
observers. There was an independent domestic observer from the
organization ISFED there,
by the name of Eka Kvitsiani. While accredited as a local observer,
when asked, she did not
know which organization she represented. When asked to explain why,
the Head of the DEC
joined the conversation, told her to be quiet, and started talking on
her behalf. She claimed to
have seen no irregularities during Election Day. She also confirmed
that she was from the
same village, and was a relative of the government candidate in the
Svaneti district. We had
the impression that PEC members were afraid to speak with us.
No irregularities were observed during the count in PEC #18 in Dizi
village.
THE KHURCHA INCIDENT
likely to be an Under35
slung grenade launcher. This weapon has a very short range, and
requires special training to
use with precision. The larger of the two buses was probably also hit
with an RPG, as it was
damaged more extensively. One of the grenades missed and hit the
ground some thirty meters
from the buses, indicating the direction from which the grenades were
fired.
The grenades were in all likelihood fired from the far side of the
soccer field, in a direct arch
towards the buses, and this was at a distance of approximately 100
meters. At the spot where
the grenades were fired from, large amounts of cartridges of three
different types were found.
The cartridges are from AKM, AK74 and PKM (more unlikely, SVD) of a
Soviet original
make, these same calibers used frequently by both the Abkhaz and
especially the Georgian
side.
The spot from where the grenades were launched, approx 100 meters from
the buses.
Photo taken by Norwegian Helsinki Committee Representatives
The governor of Khurcha declined to comment on the incident, but said
that he did not
organize the transportation of the voters. It is unclear who organized
the busing of the voters,
but according to the governor, local officials and the local DECs were
not involved.
36
Questions raised by the incident:
Local eye-witnesses explained that security forces in civilian
clothing were either already
present when the shooting started, or present shortly after, and
returned fire. They were
joined very quickly by Georgian Interior Ministry personnel. Khurcha
lies inside the demilitarized
zone, which means that Georgian military should not be present there.
The closest
Georgian military post lies some 15 minutes away, driving on very bad
roads, away from
where the incident took place, not allowing nearly enough time needed
to react to the sound
of distant gunfire.
The rare and dramatic event occurred at the very moment when numerous
TV-reporters had
been brought to the village for a pre-arranged media show, effectively
taking media interest
away from numerous reports of electoral irregularities and violent
incidents coming in from
all parts of the country.
The two burned-out buses in Khurcha. Photo taken by Norwegian Helsinki
Committee
Representatives
Local eye-witnesses all stated that they believe this incident was
staged by the Georgian (that
is, their own) side, noting in particular the fact that the passengers
were brought not to the
voting station in the centre of town, but to a soccer field, where so
many journalists had been
brought in advance, and that it was very unclear who had organized the
transport, and the
rapidness with which the Georgian military arrived at the scene of the
alleged firefight.
It was clear that the grenades were fired from within the Georgian
side of the conflict zone,
and that this had also been done from a very short distance.
That this incident took place during a staged media-show, playing into
the recent focus of the
Georgian government into the Abkhaz conflict, and that it involved
further screen time for
president Saakashvili on Election Day, is entirely worth
contemplation.
37
Cartridges left over from the shooting. Photo taken by Norwegian
Helsinki Committee
Representatives
Khurcha Incident: Staged Provocation or Sinister Plot?
On May 21, the Election Day, two buses were blown-up near the village
of Khurcha in the
Samegrelo region. The real reasons and names of people who organized
the accident have not
been identified at this time. There are several versions of the same
incident. Some claim that
it was the Georgian government that is actually responsible for the
provocation, as it wanted
to distract public attention away from elections by staging a
controversial and politically
charged incident. According to the second version, the Abkhazian side
opened fire on
Election Day in order to threaten people who had traveled to vote from
the de-facto
Abkhazian territory, in order to participate in the Georgian
Parliamentary Elections.
Regardless their guilt or innocence, there were innocent victims,
several passengers were
wounded, and many questions still remain unanswered.
People Beaten Over Phony IDs
Unidentified armed people attacked Roin Khojakadze, a representative
of the United
Opposition and Zviad Pipia, the head of the election HQ of the United
Opposition as they
traveled to various polling stations shortly after leaving Zugdidi DEC
# 67. Opposition party
members were beaten and their attackers then stole their money and
seized their documents.
Even prior to this incident, a voter had entered PS # 24 with a fake
ID issued in the name of
Irakli Khofenia, who born in 1988.
38
However, one of the observers discovered the address of the
registration was incorrect, as it
was similar to the address of one of his family members. Some
frightened and intimidated
voters ran out of the polling station and left their passport behind.
Rostom Zhordania; the
observer proceeded to made copies of the one faked ID and then
informed his wife, who was
observing PS # 26 about the incident. Also, there were several
witnesses in this instance. In
one case Lali Zhordania was followed into polling stations. Then she
was approached, and
escorted out, searched and without having found anything, and persons
asked her if she
would assisted them in finding some of the missing ID that they would
pay her 1,000 USD. A
similar financial arrangement was also offered to Rostom Zhordania.
However, there is doubt
that the responsible institutions were actually involved in providing
the faked IDs. The
observers presented a copy of the bogus ID to Khojakadze and Pipia,
commission members,
and the two were later beaten.
Journalists of the TV Companies Mze and Rustavi2 were both inside and
outside of polling
station. One journalist suffered a brain concussion from as a direct
result of the attack.
Asmat Muradashvili, an observer from the Human Rights Centre, reported
that the
commission chairperson of the polling Station 100, in the village of
Rukhi, left the polling
station and advised the voters who had arrived by mini-bus to come to
the station a bit later,
as by then the election observers would have already left. However,
they stayed until the vote
was counted and only left at 3:00 AM.
39
Distribution of Pensions with Ballots in Zugdidi
In Zugdidi’s 67th district’s 27th election section (Zugdidi, Janashia
#1) following situation
was observed: polling stations was not isolated. There were two
entrance doors in the room.
One was destined for voters; another was used by the branch office of
People’s Bank, which
provides pensions for IDPs. It’s noteworthy, that Election Day is a
legal holiday. Regardless,
the People’s Bank located on the territory of election room continued
granting pensions to
coincide with the voting procedures. Bank customers frequently used
the voter’s door. As
George Shervashidze, People’s Bank representative remarkably declared,
they “had forgotten
that 21st of May was actually a legal holiday”.
Near darkness prevailed at most polling stations in the Zugdidi
District, Photo taken by
the Observer of Human Rights Centre
40
Election Deals in Samtskhe- Javakheti Region
According to the 12 p.m. figures, locals of Akhaltsikhe and Adigeni
Municipalities were
rather active in the voting process. In Precinct # 28, Akhaltsikhe
district the ballots were cast
in the ballot box which did not have an accompanying control sheet.
However, observers
failed to write any complaints over this violation. Adigeni Precinct #
4 and Varkhni Precinct
# 7 were opened half an hour later than the time prescribed by law.
The election was
conducted with many administrative violations in Abastumani Precinct #
2. The polling
station was overcrowded; voters had to pass through 3 rooms in order
to reach the ballot box
in casting their votes. The registry was in one room, the ballot
booths located in a second
room and the ballot box in the third room. The principle of providing
secrecy for voting was
violated in this precinct as well. The voters said that there was
inadequate light in the booths.
It was necessary for them to come out of the booths into an open area
to have enough light,
which constituted open voting in public view, a kind of “ear-marking”,
as almost everybody
could see who was voting for the various candidates.
Ballot box stuffing at the Polling Station # 4 in Akhaltsikhe, Photo
by Human Rights
Centre Observers
Abastumani Precinct # 2. Levan Lobzhanidze, a representative of the
Republican Party stated
that Anton Merabishvili, who represented the ruling National Party,
offered him some kind of
an “illegal deal” in return for his assistance. However, Anton
Merabishvili denied this
information. Nonetheless, the situation continued to be tense at this
polling station on
Election Day with recriminations on all sides.
41
Irregularities in Kartli
On Election Day the vast majority of polling stations were able to
start their counting of
ballots by 8 PM. However, this was often without the participation of
representatives from
opposition political parties. Before 8 p.m. the Human Rights Centre
came into contact with
many scared people, some women were even crying, especially in the
villages of the Gori
district; they had asked for assistance in being able to safely depart
from the polling stations.
It was observed at two polling stations in Karaleti (Gori district)
that people were moving
from one polling station to another easily, and openly casting votes
again and again. When
confronted by observers they only responded that – “it’s my village
and I am free to vote
wherever I want.”
In Karaleti there were a great number of people in mass in the polling
stations. Nino
Sabashvili, the member of the “Youth Republican Union” asked
individuals without IDs to
leave the room. In response, one of the unidentified persons reacted
by pushing her and
breaking her photo camera.
Inga Bakhtadze, in the village of Plavisman, and a representative of
the Republican Party,
was both verbally and physically assaulted. However, she was not
allowed to file a complaint
over the incident. Bakhtadze had no choice but to leave the station
out of fear for her personal
safety.
In the village Tirdznisi, the majoritarian candidate Giorgi Mosidze
argued with the PEC
members. Mosidze was concerned with the fact of beating their member
Zurab Kareli, who’s
mobile was taken off.
Empty ballots that an observer of the Human Rights Centre removed from
pocket of
the chairperson of the commission as he departed the polling station.
42
Human Rights Centre Observer Photo Deleted
At the second polling station, Lika Vardzelashvili, the representative
of the Human Rights
Centre and another representative of “Fair Elections,” were both
forced to delete photos from
their mobile telephones. The photos documented ballot box stuffing.
Irregularities in Batumi
Batumi’s 79th election district’s 66th section: Number of voters
equals 1087, though there
were only two voter boots, there was also no light provided in the
booths.
65th election district opened 20 minutes later. Voters’ list comprised
1441 people, though
there are only 1400 bulletins printed.
The same situation was observed on 74th and 7th districts where the
numbers of voters exceed
number of bulletins. On 73 districts, in comparison with bulletins
less than 20 envelopes were
counted.
In Batumi’s 79th district’s 51 section’s observer Ira Adalova was not
given permission to
enter the election section, because she didn’t come at 7 o’clock,
although later she attended
the elections. She was finally allowed to observe elections when it
was learned that she was
actually an observer of the National Movement.
In Sagarejo’s Azerbaijanian Villages Great Election Chaos
Observed
In Sagarejo region, lower Lambalo’s 36 election district did not have
a door; the district was
located in an open area, where it was very hard to control flow of
movements. Almost all
election procedures were violated. Commission members expelled
observers from the polling
station on three occasions. The Election box was illegally opened.
Number of bulletins on
this district was 1350, and number of voters - 1394. Members of
Commission were unable to
explain the reason. Head of Commission, Ahdiman Mamakhardilov and
Commission
Member, Paata Buzariashvili have twice hit the camera of “The Human
Rights Centre’s”
operator, because he had spotted violations.
In Upper Lambalo’s 37th district an operator recording election
process and violations was
beaten. He was backed up by the member of United Opposition Koba
Kupatadze.
In Tulari village, 48th district, the finger marking process with
invisible ink had not taken
place for two hours. The ballot box was not sealed. Voters’ list
included 693 people and
number of bulletins equaled 650. This district polling station opened
at 9 o’clock instead of 8.
Upper Lambalo’s 47th district was opened at 9 o’clock. The control
sheet has not been
dropped in the election box. On this district 1069 voters were
registered, 11 voters were listed
in the special list and the total number of bulletins totaled 1049.
43
Observers were beaten and expelled from the 45th district of Qeshalo,
and this was because
they had shared some critical remarks to the head of Commission and
ELECTION VIOLATIONS IN THE KAKHETI REGION
HRIDC also observed May 21, 2008 Parliamentary Elections in the
Kakheti region of East
Georgia, including Akhmeta, Telavi, Kvareli, Lagodekhi, Gurjaani,
Sighnaghi,
Dedoplistskaro and the Sagarejo districts. Besides mobile groups, we
provided fixed
observers at 28 polling stations. These were mostly posted in rural
villages that are generally
inhabited by ethnic minorities, which included Karajala in Telavi
district, Kitaani in Gurjaani
district, Kabala in Lagodekhi District, Maghraani in Akhmeta district,
Chantliskuri in Kvareli
district, Sabatlo and Firosmani in Dedoplistskaro district, and in
Iurmughanlo in Sagarejo
district.
In spite of a good start it because clear that the safety of monitors
was a major issue. By 3:00
PM on Election Day HRIDC had no choice but to withdraw its observers
from the polling
station because of real risk to their personal safety. Armed people
and criminals, and some
alleged who had been especially released from prison just prior to the
elections had arrived to
the polling stations. They were raided an organized fashion, election
observers were
threatening and repressed, not to mention the psychological stress
that was placed on voters;
they too feared for their safety.
44
Many instances of unauthorized persons were noted in polling stations,
and in one instance,
one such person, who had no authority to be located the Kabali Polling
Station # 18 in
Lagodekhi DEC # 15 had forced under the treat of being killed for Gela
Mtivlishvili, HRIDC
observer, to immediately leave the voting station. There was also a
presence of police and
persons known to be connected to Georgian Security Agencies, thus an
environment of fear
and intimidation was prevalent on Election Day.
The parliamentary elections of May 21, 2008 were held in Kakheti
Region with brutal
infringements of the rights prescribed under the Georgian Constitution
and requirements of
the Election Code. In the precincts the observers from Georgian NGOs
were barred from
being able to normally observe the election process. They were not
able to write complaints.
Several observers were physically abused and even ousted from the
polling stations.
Monitoring and Other Complaints
Stations # 10 in Telavi DEC # 17, violations were noted by the refusal
to divide the functions
among commission members, which is in Article 52 of the Georgian
Election Code.
Commission chairperson assigned commission members with
responsibilities in such a
manner that was intended to alter the results and impact the normal
voting process.
Irregularities were also noted in terms of remarks made as to how
names were added on an
additional list for a mobile voting box. In theory this box is to
provide an opportunity to vote
for those too old, feeble or unable to make it to the polls.
In spite of various noted violations, including people voting twice,
and a written complaint
made by an observer from the Human Rights Centre, it was impossible to
record it officially
as the commission’s chairperson refused to accept it, claiming that he
was not an election
specialist.
Station # 41 and the Tsinandali Polling in Telavi DEC # 17, voters on
the list that were
allowed to vote with mobile box visited the precinct and voted for a
second time. For Marusa
Matiashvili was registered for the box and her ballot was inserted
into the mobile ballot box;
however she visited the precinct, received another ballot paper and
voted for the second time.
Inga Shiolashvili, an observer from the HRIDC, noted the violation and
spoke with the
chairperson and requested to correct the problem but all her effort
did not bring any result.
Giorgi Kimsishvili, an NGO observer, also filed a complaint about the
incident and
demanded that all cast ballots be annulled because of the voting
fraud. His demand was
ignored by both the precinct commission and district commission.
At the Karajala Precincts # 37, 38, 39 and 54 in Telavi DEC # 17
independent observers
observed that one person voted all at four polling stations located in
the village.
Representatives of the lection bloc “United Opposition-New Rights”
filmed those people and
submitted the video-recording with the complaint to the Telavi DEC.
They requested that the
results of the elections at those precincts be annulled. Nonetheless,
the commission refused
to satisfy their request and told that they did not have enough
evidence.”
A video-recording caught the chaos in all four precincts in Karajala;
voters were not marked
with invisible ink, or at least they were marked on the left palm that
confused the commission
member from being able to properly check those who had already voted.
In most cases,
voters were not checked whatsoever.
45
Dali Shishniashvili, Lela Purtseladze and Eldino Jangulashvili,
observers from the HRIDC,
observed that several people without corresponding documents were
allowed to vote at the
precincts # 37, 38 and 39. Over ten voters were crowded at the
registration desks in Karajala
precincts. Consequently, registrars were disabled to check all of
them. Several voters refused
to be marked but they were still allowed to vote. Observers at the
precincts # 38 and 54
noticed that the commission’s secretary was signing in the blank box
where voters were to
sign their names. Nobody instructed voters to enter the election booth
to cast their
independent votes in secret. They were filling out the ballots on
registration desks. At the
precinct # 54 supervisor of the ballot box and members of the DEC took
ballot papers from
voters, checked who they have voted for and then inserted into the
ballot box.
At the precinct # 38 in the village of Karajala, by 12:00 PM
commission members found out
that they lacked 100 ballot papers for proportional party elections.
They found out that one of
the registrars had received two packs of ballot papers for
majoritarian candidates (single
mandate). Eldino Jangulashvili, an observer from the Human Rights
Centre, filed a
complaint about this violation and the commission then annulled 100
ballots.
Final protocol of the Karajala Precinct # 54 listed a total 1,450
received ballot papers; 730 of
them were not used; 35 were ruined. Consequently, the number of voters
should have been
685 but the final protocol indicates 738 voters had actually voted.
Observers requested the
DEC members to count the papers again and the request was satisfied.
As a result of the
repeated counting the commission members did not find the difference.
Telavi DEC enclosed
an updated protocol with amendments to the final protocol for the
precinct # 54.
The final protocol of the Karajala Precinct # 38 exposed a different
numbers of proportional
and majoritarian ballots. The protocol demonstrated 612 majoritarian
(single mandate) ballots
and 512, a difference of 100 proportional papers. Observers demanded
that the results be
annulled or that the ballots be counted for a second time. The Telavi
DEC did not satisfy the
request based on the resolution # 74/2008 on May 23 2008 for lack of
proved grounds.
Nevertheless, Article 34, paragraph II-f of the Georgian Election Code
states that based on
the complaint filed within the estimated deadline and according to the
law regulations the
District Election Commission shall check the legality of the decisions
and activities carried
out by commission members and their officials; the DEC also shall
check the accuracy of
counted ballot papers, registration of voters and shall pass
corresponding decision in the case
of observed violations. DEC members ignored this requirement under the
Election Code.
At the Karajala Precinct # 39, after the ballot papers were counted
commission members
could not the final protocols. The DEC sent new protocols to the
polling station.
Gia Papunashvili, chairperson of the National Movement’s regional
organization, delivered
nearly 200 Azerbaijan voters by buses at Karajala precincts. None of
them had IDs indicating
their place of residence. Despite that fact, all 200 people voted at
the precincts # 37, 38, 39
and 54 without any obstacles. Reportedly, the ethnic Azeri voters were
transported from
“Lilo Market” in Tbilisi. One of them reported that he had received a
new ID three days
before the election
46
At the precincts in Karajala a single man from five-member-families
arrived at the polling
stations. He had the IDs of other members of his family and voted for
them. Observers
requested that commission members are not to provide more than one
ballot per voter.
Nonetheless, the commission’s chairperson replied that these were the
cultural traditions and
Georgian observers were insulting ethnic Azeris in their demands.
At the Precinct # 2 in Telavi DEC # 17 final protocol was submitted to
the DEC that had an
alternative conclusion. G. Mindeli, one of the commission members, did
not agree with the
final results because the number of envelopes in the mobile box was
more than the number of
signed ballot documents. However, the Telavi DEC did not satisfy the
complaint based on a
lack of evidence.
Bela Mushkudiani, chairperson of the Nafareuli Precinct Commission #
50 in Telavi DEC #
17 was not satisfied with the results of allocation of
responsibilities among commission
members and she changed the functions of the members on her own
accord. Observer at the
precinct filed a complaint about the incident but the chairperson and
the secretary of the PEC
refused to accept the complaint.
Observers from discovered mobile ballot box from the Telavi PEC # 7 in
TElavi DEC # 17 in
the village of Busheti in Telavi District. Ketevan Mekvevrishvili and
Tamar Kurshitashvili,
who were accompanying mobile box, explained they were moving about by
the precinct car
that was being driven by Imeda Imedashvili, a member of the National
Movement. Against
the will of the commission members Imedashvili drove them beyond the
district and refused
to return to the polling station for several hours. Mekvevrishvili and
Kurshitashvili arrived
back at the precinct after they managed to call the Election HQ of the
United Opposition for
assistance.
Telavi Precinct # 5 submitted the amended final protocol to the DEC;
however the protocol
did not indicate that the document had been amended, which is required
by the Article 51',
paragraph III of the Georgian Election Code. Consequently, the
precinct commission had not
drawn up the protocol containing the amended data. Marekhi
Mgaloblishvili, an observer
from the Young Lawyers Association filed a complaint to the Telavi DEC
and requested that
the chairperson and secretary of the PEC # 5 be fined. They also
requested that the results of
the majoritarian elections at that precinct but the Telavi be
annulled. DEC partially satisfied
her request. According to the election code, chairperson and secretary
of the PEC were fined
with 1,000 GEL each.
Nukri Kalandrishvili, commission chairperson of the Reusipiri Precinct
# 28 in Telavi DEC #
17, after the polling process ended, insulted Lili Burbutashvili,
observer from the Society for
Legal Development and did not allow her to file a complaint. The
observer requested that the
commission’s members not to include false data in final protocol, as
the number of envelopes
greatly exceeded the number of signatures recorded in the registration
journal. The remark
irritated the chairperson who forced Lili Burbutashvili out of the
polling station. Gela
Mtivlishvili, observer from the Human Rights Centre, then appealed to
the Telavi DEC
regarding the incident and demanded to let the observer into the
polling station and to react to
witnessed violation. Telavi DEC only reprimanded Nukri Kalandrishvili.
47
Members of the Zhaluri PEC # 1 in Akhmeta DEC # 18 submitted the final
protocol to the
DEC without a seal. Observers and Mikheil Maisuradze, deputy
chairperson of the PEC,
noticed the fact. After remarks, Etar Tsotskhalashvili, commission
chairperson and secretary
then disappeared and could not be found. They tried to open the
envelope and to seal the final
protocol in another room. Short term observers from OSCE Democratic
Institutions and
Human Rights Office also witnessed this instance of fraud.
In term of this violation, on May 22 at 2:14 PM Manana Mrelashvili, an
observer filed
complaint to the DEC # 18 and demanded to annul the protocol of the
Zhaluri PEC #1 and
that chairperson and secretary of the commission be punished
According to the Article 60 paragraph IV of the Georgian Election
Code, final protocol shall
be signed by commission members and shall be confirmed by the PEC
seal. Although, the
protocol of the Zhaluri PEC #1 did not contain the seal Akhmeta DEC
did not consider it as
being adequate enough grounds to justify annulling the protocol. He
consequently refused to
satisfy the complaint.
Observers of mobile group from the Human Rights Centre at 4:10 PM
observed at the Matani
PEC # 11 in Akhmeta DEC # 18 that Lia Mekudishvili voted without
producing her ID.
Ketevan Mosiashvili, representative of the Republic Party, reported
that Ano Induashvili,
commission member, allowed other citizens to vote without having first
provided their IDs.
Chairperson of the PEC did not allow observers to file complaints in
the official record book.
Double voting was observed at Precinct # 11 in Gurjaani DEC # 12.
Tamar Kobakhidze was
inserted on the voter’s list for people who live abroad but she was
not included in the main
voter’s list. Aneta Iremashvili, another local, was found to have her
name included on a
special list. However, she has signed at PEC # 12. Valerian
Lazariashvili was away with a
tour of military service but he had somehow signed. Ipelia Kanashvili
has also voted
according to the main voter’s list though she is inserted on the
special list. Eteri
Mtvarelishvili is also in the additional list but she has voted at the
polling station too. Zurab
Danelishvili, representative of the Republic Party, wrote a complaint
about the violations and
according to the Article 34 paragraph II-f he demanded the DEC to
check and recount the
number of ballot papers, voters registered during the polling process
and to finally annul the
results. Based on the Resolution # 60/2008 Gurjaani DEC # 12 did not
satisfy Danelishvili’s
complaint, and noted a lack of evidence.
Precinct Election Commission # 15 in the village of Velistsikhe in
Gurjaani district did not
follow the Article 57 of the Election Code and failed to count the
number of voters, unused
ballot papers, spoilt papers and did not indicate those figures in
final protocol. Commission
members started to count ballot papers without counting above-
mentioned papers. Zurab
Danelishvili, representatives of the Republic Party Otar Samunashvili,
observer from the
Human Rights Centre filed complaints where they demanded to recount
voters and used
ballot papers. However, the DEC did not satisfy their complaints, and
not only in this
instance – he also refused to register the complaint of Zurab
Danelishvili where the observer
had noted that on the main list there was not any note about voters
who had been included on
the special list.
48
At the Vachnadzeani PEC # 6 in Gurjaani DEC commission secretary has
changed the
signatures of voters in main voters’ list. However, in spite of
recriminations, the secretary
denied the allegation. It was now clear that it was virtually
impossible to accurately
determine the total number of voters based on corresponding
signatures. Finally, it took court
proceedings, and the election results were finally annulled by
Gurjaani District Court. The
Georgian Young Lawyers Association took the case to court.
Election Commission of the Precinct # 41 in the village of Arashenda
in Gurjaani DEC # 12
submitted final protocols to the DEC where total amount of voters
participating in the
elections was 587 but the number of votes was 782. Neither
majoritarian nor proportional
protocols with the number 0002653 were enclosed with the amendment
protocols, or were
any accompanying notes confirming the changes were included in the
final protocol.
Consequently, the observer wrote a complaint and demanded that the
protocols and voting
results be set aside. As in other instances, the DEC refused to
satisfy his request and
considered it as having been groundless.
At the Velistsikhe PEC # 15 and 16 in Gurjaani DEC # 12 after 7:00 PM
members of the
National Movement’s local election HQ visited precincts and voted
everywhere; they for
those voters who did now show up to cast their vote. Representatives
of the ruling party
patrolled in front of the polling stations in Velistsikhe precincts
and at other polling station
throughout the district. They had voters’ lists and recorded who had
come to the precinct.
After 5:00 PM they visited those people at home who had not come to
the elections and
brought them to participate in the election. Their activists made
every effort to convince
people to circle the number of the National Movement without having
first entered the
election booth. Otherwise they were told that they would experience
problems. Consequently,
most had no choice but to cast their vote in front of the members of
the election commission.
Representatives of the ruling party, political party “Radical
Democrats National Party,”
“Union of Georgian Sportsmen,” “Traditionalists, Our Country, Women’s
Party” and NGO
“Ratsio Legi” witnessed all what was transpiring at the polling
stations and they protected
against the vested interests of the National Movement.
District police officers, security officers and representatives of
other law enforcement bodies
were assigned to polling stations in Gurjaani District and were on
site for the duration of the
election. They assisted in persuading people to vote for the ruling
party and as the single
mandate candidates of the National Party.
Nearly 14% of the total amount of voters used mobile box in Gurjaani
DEC # 12. For
example, 92 voters used mobile ballot box in Vachnadzeani PEC # 6; 98
voters used the
mobile box in Vazisubani PEC # 11; 106 voters at the Akhasheni PEC #
17. Most voters from
the special list told that they had not applied to the commission to
vote with mobile box.
Shota Simonishvili who had arrived at the Vachnadzeani Precinct to
vote told how he had
somehow been included on the special in spite of the fact that he had
not applied to the
commission with such a request.
49
Observers Faced Deadly Force
It was clear that chairpersons of the district and precinct election
commissions and the
representatives of the United National Movement made effective use of
criminal elements.
They could be seen standing outside polling stations for the purpose
of intimidating observers
and some voters. Many of these criminals had been released from
prisons several days prior
to Election Day. It became clear that when members of the election
commission were unable
to frighten independent observers, there was a backup plan, which made
use of those who had
been convicted for such grave crimes as robbery, murder and other
serious felonies. They
were used for intimidating observers on the premises of polling
stations. Observers were
physically threatened, that they would be knifed or that some other
weapon would be used on
them.
It was clear as to the motivation, as noted in the submitted reports,
“I observed the elections
in Ganjala Precinct # 20, Lagodekhi District. Voting fraud commenced
as soon as the polling
station opened in the morning. To start out with, the official seal on
the ballot paper package
was not intact. The UV lamp and the invisible ink did not function as
it was suppose to, as the
invisible ink was oftem not sprayed on the voters’ fingers. This
allowed repeat voting, the
one and the same persons had already voted several times. We,
independent observers wrote
complaints on these violations. However, Alaidin Rustamov, the
commission secretary did
not register any of our complaints. Parkhad Musaev, the PEC
chairperson then started
shouting at us; he was using very foul language; he even tried to hit
us.
Later, at 9:37 Guram Kakalashvili, the United National Movement, a
single mandate MP
candidate has entered the polling site with a score of muscled, tall
men and they used
extremely bad language when they spoke to observers. A man called
Shoshiashvili, who was
with Kakalashvili’s group turned out to be a CEC representative. He
also used foul language
against the observers and the voters. People were beating one another.
This appears to have
been used as the diversion and then ballots were stuffed into the
ballot box. I demanded
Kakalashvili to leave the polling station he started cussing me, and
used very nasty language.
I wrote a complaint on this fact which made the infuriated PEC
chairperson, which made him
even crazier. He tried to beat me but a person named Kutibashvili
grabbed him by his arm
and he was lead away.
At about 13:30 all the oppositional PEC members and proxies left the
polling station because
of the impossibility to perform their duties under such circumstances,
However, I did not
leave and was left alone with representatives of the United National
Movement. They then
started shouting at me; they physically took away all my complaint
forms and tore them up.
In the end they tried to beat me, consequently, I had no choice but to
leave the polling
station,” states Marina Zardiashvili, a journalist and the observer
for the Human Rights
Centre.
The observers were not able to monitor the election process at the
Uzuntali Precinct # 21,
Lagodekhi District as well. Nato Sarkisashvili, the Human Rights
Centre observer was
threatened by Shoshiashvili, the CEC representative was than ousted
from the polling station,
but another representative of independent NGO New Generation- New
Initiative was not.
Isako Tskipurishvili, the United National Movement single mandate MP
candidate told
Sarkisashvili that “if she decided to write a complaint he would
“smash” her head up against
the wall”.
50
I personally, observed the elections in Kabali Precinct # 18,
Lagodekhi District as the
representative of the Human Rights Centre. Immediately after entering
the polling site I saw
that the ballot papers had been taken out of the polling station,
signed and taken back into the
precinct to drop into the ballot box. I protested against over this
and proceeded to demand
that Adalat Sardarov, the PEC chairperson do something to stop this
illegal act.
Hardly had I finished my words when Sardarov took an iron chair and
threw it at me. Then he
proceeded to physically assault me and some other PEC members helped
him. I tried to
address the police officer who responsible for maintaining order
outside but in spite of my
repeated effort, nobody came to help me. I then called the Lagodekhi
District Department of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Though the law enforcers did respond
to my call they did not
act as they were interested in my problem, and could care less if I
had tried to address issues
related to the election. Moreover, a police officer who presented
himself as the deputy head
of Lagodekhi Police Department asked the chairperson and while he was
pointing at me …
“if there were any people at the polling station who had violated
peace and order and should
be removed.” The answer was no … and later I had to escape from the
polling station when a
group of armed people broke into the building.
I stayed for a while outside the polling station. I saw two MP
candidates of the United
National Movement- Guram Kakalashvili and Isako Tskipurishvili who
were entering the
polling site. Several people with whom I did not know were with them.
One was from the MP
candidates’ entourage; he came to me and pointed a pistol in my
direction. He also used bad
language and warned me outright that if I did not stop informing
international observers
about election violations that he would kill me. At the same time I
felt cold object touching
my throat. About 30-year- old man with NGO Ratsio Legi observer’s
certificate holding a
knife in one hand grabbed me by my arm and demanded to leave the
polling site
immediately. When I was a safe distance from the strangers I called on
the law enforcers for
help but to no effect; the deputy head of the police department later
stated that he did not see
anything at all.
When the observers spotted ballot box stuffing at a precinct in Kabali
and tried to write a
complaint, the PEC chairperson and deputy chairperson threatened them
an axe.
The observers were under threat at other precincts of Kakheti region
as well. However, the
greatest intensity was among the precincts that are mostly inhabited
by ethnic minorities.
The observers of the Human Rights Centre addressed the Office of the
Prosecutor General
with an official letter informing them on abuse and intimidation of
HRIDC observers but the
criminal cases have not been started as yet.
Lia Khuroshvili, observer of the Human Rights Centre reported about
the violations observed
at Karajala PEC # 22 in Lagodekhi DEC # 15. She arrived at the
precinct at 7:00 AM. Ethnic
Azeris live in the village. Later, the extent of the election fraud
was realized. It was learned
that supporting data about the number of voters, the total number of
blank ballots provided
and number of voters contained on the special list were not recorded
in a summary protocol,
which was suppose to be completed by 8:00 AM.
51
One hour later we observed the ballot papers were given to the people
who were not on the
voters’ list. Commission members became irritated after observers from
the opposition
parties remarked about what they saw. Two other observers were
physically assaulted and
then forced out of the precinct.
At 1:45 PM commission members and observers from opposition parties
left the precinct in
protest. Lia Khuroshvili, Aluda Doliashvili, observer from the
Multinational Georgia and two
Georgian observers from the National Movement remained at the
precinct. At 2:25 PM a
group of people rushed into the polling station. They surrounded the
box and started to stuff
ballots into the box. The deputy chairperson of the commission was
also involved. He
personally stuffed several dozen ballots into the ballot box. Lia
Khuroshvili wrote a
complaint about the violation and demanded that the election results
at the precinct be
annulled. However, the commission refused to accept the complaint.
Chairperson and
representative of the NGO Ratsio Legi tried to beat Khuroshvili who
somehow managed to
resist them. Kakheti regional coordinator of the Human Rights Centre
informed Lagodekhi
District Police Department about the harassment and asked to react on
the fact, there was no
result. Finally, a mobile group of the HRIDC arrived at the precinct
and withdrew
Khuroshvili from there at 3:20 PM because she was in danger.
When a commission member of the Kabali PEC # 21 in Lagodekhi tried to
rig the elections a
quarrel broke out. Chairperson and other members of the commission
stood by and watched
the situation calmly. Ketevan Talakhadze, DEC member from Labour
Party, who arrived at
the precinct, tried to overcome the violation but with no success.
Talakhadze was supposed
to give the documents to the chairperson when she was physically
attacked. Ketevan
Talakhadze was then pulled out of the precinct. As she reported, after
certain people “settled”
the problem with her, she took the registration list to Lagodekhi to
make copy of the faked
signatures. However, some strangers grabbed the list from her before
she could leave. Zurab
Kachkachishvili, spokesperson of the CEC reported that Ketevan
Talakhadze, a member of
the Labour Party, had put the list into her underwear and stole it;
this same information and
incident was reported by some TV stations.
Observers at the Uzuntala PEC # 21 in Lagodekhi DEC # 15 reported that
the fingers of
voters were not marked all day long. The lamp for detecting the
ultraviolet invisible ink did
not work. Ballot papers were given to voters without having produced
IDs. After filling in the
ballot papers they were not isolated in the voting booths to where
they could cast their vote in
privacy. The ballot papers were taken out from the polling station in
bulk and at times 5-6
voters would arrive back and insert their votes into the ballot box in
a batch. The secretary of
the commission did not count the number of signatures in the
registration list to estimate the
activity of voters. However, the secretary was legally obliged to
check the signatures under
Article 53.6 of the Election Code.
In light of the above-mentioned violations Nato Sarkisashvili,
observer from the Human
Rights Centre at the Uzuntala PEC # 21 filed a complaint and demanded
that the voting
process be terminated. Nonetheless, the secretary of the PEC refused
to consider the
complaint. Commission members were not willing to show the record book
and did not
allow the observer to make a written complaint. In addition,
Shoshiashvili, representative of
the CEC, who was at the Lagodekhi DEC, started to shout at observers
and would not allow
them to work in a normal fashion.
52
Nugzar Abulashvili the majoritarian candidate of the National Movement
visited polling
station # 9 in Sighnaghi DEC # 13 as well as other precincts together
with unauthorised
people. He asked commission members whether everything was ok. In
Sighnaghi, on
Sakobo’s polling station, Nugzar Abulashvili, and even before the
chairperson had
complained about any issue had expelled Nodar Kutibashvili’s (United
Opposition
commission member) from the polling station. Nodar was then told that
if he would attempt
to return to the polling station, that he would be arrested.
Violations were also observed at the Bodbiskhevi PEC # 13 in Sighnaghi
district. Tengiz
Bezhashvili, representative of the Republic Party, discovered 128
envelopes for ballot papers
in the drawers of the tables in the polling station. Later, the
chairperson of the commission
explained that the ballot papers were old and they had been left there
from the period of the
January 5 2008.presidential elections. In spite of this excuse, a
complaint was written about
this but the chairperson refused to accept it. Later, the envelopes
were secretly, however, a
local journalist somehow managed to take a photo of the burning
envelopes.
Tengiz Bezhashvili, commission member from Republic Party who visited
the Bodbiskhevi
Precinct was beaten. He reported that police had initially insulted
and then proceeded to beat
him. Bezhashvili claimed he was beaten because he discovered
additional envelopes at the
precinct.
Those from the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, GYLA, also observed
the election
process at precincts in Sighnaghi DEC, and this was in combination
with the association
Vejini. Reportedly, those NGOs had not dispatched their observers to
those precincts. Two
people, Gia Kavtaradze and Khatuna Khositashvili observed the polls at
the Tsnori PEC # 13
under the cover of the GYLA. However, they had accreditation card but
without official seal.
Their cards were only copies and not originals. Effort has been made
in the meantime to find
out the situation with Kakheti regional coordinators of the above-
mentioned organizations.
However, both Kavtaradze and Khositashvili have since disappeared;
they had even signed
the record book as official observers. There were several observers
were present at the
precincts in Sighnaghi district. After our remarks, part of PEC
chairpersons dismissed them
from the precincts. However, as soon as we left the poling stations
false observers returned
back and acted as commission members.
Mamuka Kuprashvili attended the polling process at Bodbiskhevi PEC #
12 in the name of
the Human Rights Centre; Dali Mchedlishvili represented “Centre for
Constitutional Rights”;
Davit Kusrashvili represented Caucasian Bar Association. They followed
the directions of
Manana Gelashvili, the chairperson. The accreditation cards of those
observers were not
confirmed by the CEC; they contained the seal of the Sighnaghi DEC
only. It is noteworthy,
that the Human Rights Centre did not have an observer with the name
Mamuka Kuprashvili.
Manana Gelashvili, chairperson of the same PEC, dismissed observer
Darejan Darchiashvili
who found hidden ballot papers in the second room.
At the Bodbiskhevi PEC # 12 commission member-registrar gave four
ballot papers to
Makvala Obolashvili, the voter. The observers protested without
result.
53
Part of voters entered the booths that were not closed and everybody
could see how they cast
their votes. Despite several complaints about the violation the
chairperson did not react at all.
He threatened the observers to dismiss from the polling station. The
polling station was not
closed down at 8:00 PM and the process continued. Nearly 50 people in
the queue were
within the precinct and it caused serious disorder. Since the box was
opened and envelopes
were on the table, the electricity was cut off. Although, observers
had warned the commission
members to prepare flashlights because such a delay was quite possible
but nobody paid any
attention to their warning. After the electricity was cut off, one
member of the Republic Party
turned on his flashlight. Observers then noticed some strange people
standing in the room.
They were putting extra envelopes with ballots inside them on the
table. They then grabbed
the flashlight from the person and ran out. The member of the Republic
Party submitted
acomplaint to the Sighnaghi DEC and requested to annul the results of
the Bodbiskhevi PEC
# 12. However, his request was not satisfied.
Observer of the Human Rights Centre noticed as soon as he entered the
Tsnori PEC 8 in
Sighnaghi DEC that armed policeman and five unauthorised people were
at the polling
station. Having found out the situation officers of the special forces
of the Internal Ministry
were mobilized outside the precinct. They ordered commission members
to follow their
orders; more precisely they ordered to give ballot papers to the
people who were not
registered on the voter’s list and who not even registered in
Sighnaghi district based on their
IDs. Only after we made clear that this was unacceptable did these
people leave the polling
station. However, we were later informed that those people had
returned to the polling station
after we had departed and voted.
Voters from the village of Gavazi in Kvareli District were offered 20
GEL if they voted for
the National Movement. Giorgi Chitarishvili, member of the “Movement
1978” informed us
about the fact. He reported that in addition to that specific
violation how there were a large
number of police mobilized at the Gavazi PEC # 20 in Kvareli District.
People were
threatened and suppressed; they could not express their will. Facts of
carousel voting and
controversies between the members of the National Movement and the
United Opposition
were also observed.
Activists of the National Movement in Kvareli beat Ramazan Abrakarov,
member of the
Republic Party who observed polling process in the village of
Chantliskuri in Kvareli district.
He was expelled from the precinct. Paata Khachishvili, the head of the
Kvareli District
Security Department controlled the polling process at several
precincts and did not let the
observers to file complaints. Observer of the Human Rights Centre
recorded how
Khachishvili controlled the situation at the precincts.
Election carousel worked in the Dedoplistskaro DEC too. Observers of
the mobile group of
the HRIDC personally saw the voters who were transported from one to
other precincts.
Despite the remarks and complaints of the observers and members of the
opposition political
parties nobody reacted on the violations and tried to eradicate the
problem. The fact of
carousel was observed at the Kiziki PEC # 14, at the Kochebi PEC # 2.
Unauthorised people
ran the situation at the Dedoplistskaro DEC. Local observers and
journalist Ilia
Martkopelashvili reported that those unauthorised people were
employees of the Internal
Ministry. The journalist learned about it after he was personally
threatened. Ilia
Martkopelashvili was threatened with detention if he reported mobile
groups of observers
about the violations at precincts.
54
PEC # 36 of the Sagarejo DEC # 11 functioned in the building of the
police station. In the
morning the observers found the door removed. Although they demanded
to repair the door,
the chairperson of the commission did not sign the complaint and
announced the polling
process started at the precinct.
At 10:00 AM a large amount of voters attacked the PEC. Observers could
not control the
crowd and they rushed into the polling station. Chairperson explained
that local people were
Azerbaijan and could not speak Georgian; consequently, voters could
not understand the
remarks of the Georgian observers. Policemen did not react on the
situation. Part of ethnic
Azerbaijan people, who were aggressive, attacked Irakli Goguadze, the
camera man who was
filming the violations.
The most difficult situation was found in the Lambalo Precinct. Two
precincts, # 37 and 38
were located at the ends of the same hall in the same school building
and they were separated
from each other with three desks. This border between polling stations
was destroyed when
the voting started and the voters of one precinct were going to the
second one to vote again,
and after having stuffed several ballot papers in one precinct, they
were doing the same in
another one. More then 10 voters were entering the precinct at the
same time; they were
helping each other to sign the number “Besh” which means 5 in Azeri.
Mamedov, a
commission member, indicated his neighbours with the word which figure
to circle.
Observers without any badges consulted with voters in Azeri at the
PEC.
It was unclear where voters had found so many ballots, as they had
held in their hands. When
observers remarked they could not push several ballot papers in the
box at once, people
aggressively responded to them. At 10:00 AM Koba Kupatadze, an
observer at the PEC # 37
tried to stop ballot box stuffing the PEC chairperson and union
“Racio- Legi” observer beat
him ruthlessly.
Konstantine Stalinski was filming how the observer was beaten. One of
the harasser noticed
him and rushed in his direction shouting something in Azeri. Other
Azerbaijan observers and
deputy commission chairperson also supported him and tried to take a
camera away from
Stalinski. The journalist was beaten.
From 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM the number of ballot papers was less than
registered voters at the
Keshalo PEC # 34, Mughanlo PEC # 36, Kvemo Lambalo PEC # 37, Tulari
PEC # 38,
Kazlari PEC # 39, Duzagrami PEC # 40, Keshalor PEC # 45, Mughanlo PEC
# 46, Zemo
Lambalo PEC # 47, Tulari PEC # 48, Duzagrami PEC # 49 in Sagarejo DEC
# 11. Besides
that, each reception protocol exposed higher number of envelopes than
ballots. Commission
secretaries of almost all above-mentioned precincts did not indicate
the number of the arrived
voters by 12:00 PM. The record book did not exist at the Keshalo PEC #
45 at all.
Allocation of responsibilities among commission members was not
carried out at the abovementioned
precincts. Chairpersons ambitiously divided the functions among
commission
members. Registrars did not give voters the registration list where
people had to write their
signatures. More than 8-10 voters were standing at the registration
desk though the law
claims not more than two voters shall stand there at one time. People
voted with the IDs of
other people. Registrars had sealed several ballot papers in advance.
55
In addition to unauthorised people at the polls, like officials from
the Sagarejo District
administration, village governors and policemen were present at
polling stations.
At approximately, 8:37 AM observer Koba Kupatadze was beaten at the
polling station in the
school building of the village of Kvemo Lambalo. The observer was
placed in hospital with a
serious injury on his right eye.
At approximately 1:00 PM, policemen encouraged ethnic Azerbaijan
people to tense the
situation at the precincts # 35, 36, 40 and 49. Because of the tense
situation the United
Opposition and other opposition parties withdrew their observers from
the precincts. The
Human Rights Centre also withdrew its observers from the polling
station.
Chairperson of the PEC # 38 beat Marina Polinstkaia, commission member
that was filmed
by video-camera.
Mevlud Natsvlishvili, who was at the Precinct # 47, ordered and a
group of nearly 30 drunken
men rushed into the polling station and beat independent observers and
commission members
who were there on behalf of opposition parties. Davit Maisuradze,
member of the Sagarejo
DEC from Labour Party was seriously beaten. During the quarrel the
ballot box was busted
up and drunken people stuff extra ballot papers into it. Although the
election code demands to
close down the precinct if the ballot box is damaged, the voting
process continued.
Testimony of Davit Maisuradze, member of the Sagarejo DEC # 11
‘I arrived at the precinct # 47 in Sagarejo district at 12: 30 PM to
check the situation together
with Malkhaz Katsiashvili, member of the Sagarejo DEC and Emzar
Gorgiladze,
representative of the Christian-Democratic Movement in the DEC. nearly
24 voters had come
to the polling station before our arrival. At 13:10 PM nearly 30
drunken men arrived at the
polling station who tried to rush into. Commission members who had to
regulate the wave of
people were could not resist them. The violators were stronger than us
and they rushed into
the building. Policeman was watching the on-going situation calmly.
The attackers not only
insulted us but they assaulted us too. They started to pull out the
envelopes out of their
pockets and stuffed them into the box. During the quarrel I was
ruthlessly beaten.”
Sandro Gagniashvili, representative of the Republic Party was also
beaten at the same
precinct as he prevented a stranger from stuffing ballots into the
voting box. Gagniashvili was
injured in the head and face.
Ordinary water was in the marking apparatus instead of invisible ink
at the Tulari Precinct #
48. Commission member from the United Opposition demanded to check the
liquid but he
was not allowed and afterwards, he poured the ink on his hand. Having
checked the marking
with the lamp it did not show anything. In addition, under-age people
also participated in the
election at the same precinct. Observers protested similar facts
several times but the
chairperson considered observers as having interfered in their
activities and demanded the
police to expel the observers from the polling stations.
56
In the morning, commission chairperson also took part in the vote
count though he had no
legal right to do so; the first ballot paper was dropped into an
unsealed box. All day long the
chairperson accompanied voters into the booth and circled “5” himself.
One and the same
voters took part in the polls several times and the chairperson stated
he was satisfied with
that. Registrars also circled ruling party in the ballot papers and
the single candidate from the
National Movement. Complaint of Teona Kokhodze, an observer from the
Human Rights
Centre, was not satisfied; she requested the District Election
Commission to annul the results
of that particular precinct.
Irakli Kikikashvili, observer at the Precinct # 46, observed scores of
ballot papers were
dropped into the ballot box several at a time. He wrote a complaint
and demanded to annul
the polling process there but the secretary did not accept it.
Complaints of the observers at the
Iormughanlo precincts in Sagarejo district were not accepted at all.
Thus, it was impossible to
complain about the Election Day violations.
Amil Sharipov, chairperson of the Tulari PEC # 38 personally circled
the number for the
National Movement and single mandate candidate from the ruling party.
The mobile box was
not removed from the polling station at all because the information
about disabled people was
not recorded in the record book because it did not exist at the
precinct at all. There were
unauthorised people at the precinct that did not leave the place
despite repeated demands of
the observers.
The seal of one of the registrar Azir Sariev was missing for half an
hour at the precinct # 36.
Finally the chairperson of the commission showed it up and stated the
seal was taken to
another room for some time where ballot papers were sealed for the
mobile box. However,
before that the chairperson and secretary claimed they did not know
where the seal was. Azir
Sariev had a bundle of sealed ballot papers, a notebook with the
number 019845 that later
disappeared. The secretary and the chairperson did not accept
complaints of the observers.
At the same precinct Nana Devidze, observer from the International
Society for Fair
Elections and Democracy, observed a fact of election fraud. More
precisely, Karim
Rakhimov, born on 09.03.1991, although he had no right to take part in
the election because
of lack of age, voted three times after producing the ID with the ID
number g 1069018 and
personal number 36001044243.
Commission members made announcements in favour of the ruling party at
the Duzagrama
Precinct # 40. Observer Mamuka Khebrelashvili stated in his complaint
that voters stopped
arriving at the polling station by 1:00 PM. However, three strangers
took ballot papers from
the commission members, circled National Movement on them, puts in the
envelope and
drops into the box. Observers are not allowed to resist the violation.
Secretary sealed ballots
advance and handed them to strangers. The Sagarejo DEC discussed the
complaint, but they
did not satisfy the request for annulling the results at the precinct.
At the Mughanlo Precinct # 35 in Sagarejo DEC # 11, working at the
public school, a voter
arrived at the polling station at 2:00 PM who was accompanied with a
child of 2 or 3.
Commission registrar gave two ballot papers to them and the observers
from the United
Opposition, Republic Party and Independent observers protested the
fact though in vain. The
little child enjoyed the right on voting together with the old man.
57
They dropped two ballot papers in the box. During the argument,
representative of the United
Opposition, as Goderdzi Laperashvili reported, nearly 15-20 men rushed
into the precinct and
dropped a lot of ballot papers into the voting box.
Five Journalists Assaulted in One Day
The CEC accredited journalists together with the independent observers
and the
representatives of the oppositional parties were beaten on May 21,
2008 Election Day in
Kakheti.
Eliso Chapidze, the Rezonansi (newspaper) editor on duty was assaulted
by Nodar
Kapanadze and Otar Lamazoshvili, unauthorized people were found in the
polling room of
Kvemo Magharo Precinct # 26, Signagi # 13 District. The assaulters
twisted hands behind the
victim’s back, took away a camera and assaulted her. Konstantine
Stalinski, a correspondent
of the web portal www. presa.ge and Malkhaz Varshanidze and Irakli
Goguadze,
camerapersons were also beaten in the polling stations of the village
Iormughanlo, Sagarejo
election district. The Human Rights Centre journalist was assaulted in
Lagodekhi district. A
chairperson of a precinct in Lagodekhi district threw a chair at the
one journalist, and then
armed persons proceeded to oust him from the polling station, and even
threaten him with a
weapon.
Special Forces inside Polling Station
As one election monitor recalls, “I was observing the parliamentary
election in Signagi
district. I started the process of observation at 7 a.m. in the
village of Tibaani. After having
observed the process of opening the precinct I went to the village of
Jugaani. On entering the
polling station in Jugaani village the United Opposition proxy told me
that the secrecy of
voting was being infringed in the precinct. The voters were circling
number 5 (the election
number of the United National Movement) in ballot papers right at the
voting table, showing
them to the commission members and only afterwards inserting the
ballots into the voting
boxes. I personally say what one going-on. When I asked one woman why
all these voters
were not voting in the election booth, she showed me two ballot papers
and advised me mind
my own business. She said she was not conceived that she was voting
for the United National
Movement.
Later, the ruling party sent drunken young men to the polling station
in Gurjaani. One of
them charged at me and said he had been wounded 17 in his life and it
was not my business
whether he entered the booth or not. When I asked Jugaani PEC
chairperson why drunken
people were permitted to be on the premises of polling station, he
said the commission did
not have right to prevent drunken voters from being able to enter and
voting publicly,” noted
Eliso Chapidze.
Eliso Chapidze also noted that at about 13:30 p.m. Tea Khurtsilava,
journalist of Sarke
magazine had called her and informed that approximately 10
representatives of the Special
Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (MIA). They were
out of uniforms and had
entered into the Kvemo Magharo polling station for no known reason.
58
Eliso Chapidze: “I went to this polling station with a group who was
filming the election
process. When the camera operator was ousted from the polling station,
I then myself entered
the polling room with a camera, and then I proceeded to tell the PEC
members that I was an
accredited journalist, showing my ID. However, both PEC members and a
police officer
neglected my demand for representatives of Special Unit to go from the
station. I started
filming the unauthorized people but at the very moment I started
shooting several athletic
looking men who had come up to me, they then twisted my hands behind
my back, they took
away the camera and proceeded to assault me. I then started shouting
and called for Mamuka
Dekanoidze, police officer to come to my assistance but without
result. Those responsible for
the assault, Kapanadze, Lamazoshvili and several other men who
allegedly were observers
from The United Georgian Hall and they then left the polling site but
this was only after a
fight had broken out. The cars they drove belonged to the MIA’s
Special Operative
Department.
I found out later that it was Giorgi Babakishvili, the Signagi
Municipality-Sakrebulo member
from the United National Movement who brought Kapanadze and
Lamazoshvili to the
Kvemo Magharo polling station at 7 o’clock in the morning.
Babakishvili was guiding the
election process on the same polling station. I tried to protest
against this violation as well as
other ones. However, I was unable to get their proper attention; they
were shouting and using
foul language with me.
Violation of Voter Privacy
A young man stood at the entrance of the polling station and wrote in
a yellow notebook the
names of the voters who had come to vote. On having entered the
polling station the voters
went to the registration table, received their ballots, circled their
chosen candidate in the
booth, and came out with unfolded open-faced ballot papers. The voters
then held the ballot
papers so that the woman who was handing over the envelopes could see
whom they had
actually voted. Representatives of the NGO “New Generation New
Initiative” were writing
down who voted for the United National Movement and only after this
the voter actually cast
their vote.
The names of the voters who had folded the ballot paper were also
written down. Several
voters folded the paper in four which really made Dali Davitashvili,
the PEC chairlady mad.
It is interesting to note that Gia Davitashvili, Dali Davitashvili’s
son was sentenced to a term
of seven years in prison. A reliable source informed us that Dali
Davitashvili was promised
that if the United National Movement (UNM) and Nugzar Abulashvili ,
UNM single mandate
MP candidate in Gurjaani won, that her son would be released early
from prison,” stated
Eliso Chapidze.
The case resulted from Eliso Chapidze’s assault in the Signagi
District Department of the
MIA on the same day. It was only when the incident was publicized by
the Georgian Public
Broadcasting did the police in the district department get interested.
ting notice. “Sukhiashvili
and Deghmelashvili, told me that I would have problems that they would
arrest me with great
pleasure – and especially if I exaggerated things. Giorgi
Khachiashvili, the investigator could
not understand how I was beaten when I did not have bruises on my
skin. I informed the
investigator that the young men that attacked me on May 21, 2008 and
they had obstructed
me from being able to do my work; they were driving around the village
of Magharo in white
Jeep Nisan with Constitutional Security Department (CSD) plate
numbers.
59
Transparent voting in Akhaltsikhe
Joint voting under supervision of PEC members
60
Dispersal and Beatings in Sagarejo
Several other journalists were beaten on May 21 in Kakheti as well.
Konstantine Stalinski
was beaten in the Kvemo Lambalo Precinct # 37, Sagarejo District when
he filmed an
incident in the polling station.
“Koba Kupatadze, an observer tried to stop ballot box stuffing and in
collaboration the PEC
chairperson and union “Racio- Legi” observer worked together and the
beat him ruthlessly.
Konstantine Stalinski was filming how the observer was beaten. One of
the drunken men
noticed him and dashed in his direction. The men raiding the polling
station and stuffing
ballot papers in the ballot box took a camera away from Stalinski.
Azeri observers and the
PEC deputy chairperson helped them. The journalist tried to resist and
consequently, he was
assaulted,” stated Marina Tsiklauri, an observer from the Human Rights
Centre.
Konstantine Stalinski told how the most difficult situation was found
in the Lambalo
Precinct. Two precincts were at opposite ends of the same hall in the
same school building
and they were separated from each other with three desks. This border
between polling
stations was destroyed when the voting started and the voters of one
precinct were going to
the second one to vote again, and after having stuffed several ballot
papers in one precinct,
they were doing the same in another one. More then 10 voters were
entering the precinct at
the same time; they were helping each other to sign the number “Besh”
which means 5 in
Azeri.
Konstantine Stalisnki: “It was unclear where voters had found so many
ballot papers, as
they held in their hands. When observers remarked they could not push
several ballot papers,
people responded to them with aggression. I was filming the situation
and I too became a
victim of of violence.
“Inge-Mai Longist, an observer from the OSCE, made a very strange
remark to me a bit
later. After having witnessed all the violations going on the polling
station she suggested me:
“I advise you not to film anything because the camera irritates the
locals.”
“Soon my companion warned me to leave the Iormughanlo immediately
because operators in
a neighboring polling stations were being assaulted. Roman Temnikov,
an Azerbaijan
journalist called me and said that local criminals knew my name and
itinerary and I was
facing danger.
I received the same information from other source too. “Azerbaijan
locals were provided with
wine and under the influence they intended to attack polling stations.
Serious things might
occur in the evening and anybody was subject to being a victim. Those
filming what was
going on were especially at risk.”
“I will remember this village because of those two cameramen who were
beaten here within
the span of one hour. Cameras were seized both of them. One of them,
film-director Malkhaz
Varshanidze was left without cassettes, mobile phones and personal
items; even clothes were
grabbed and taken away from him.”
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Another victim of in a polling station was Irakli Goguadze. He had
rescued the recordings of
the violations observed in the second part of the day.”
Khatuna Iosava, the head of the PR Department of the Georgian
Prosecutor General’s
Office, reported that Sagarejo District Police Department had launched
criminal
investigations over the assault of Konstantine Stalinski journalist
and a camera operators,
Varshanidze and Goguadze under the Article 178, paragraph III of the
Criminal Code
(robbery under the threat of violence that is not threat life to one’s
health). The crime
envisages a term of imprisonment that can range from five to eight
years behind bars.
CONCLUSION
The Human Rights Centre of Georgia [HRIDC] affirms that the lack of
any genuine political
resolve within the Government of Georgia (GoG), to truly organize
genuine democratic
elections, has resulted in widespread and systematic election fraud.
As a result, the sitting
parliament was not actually elected by the people. The GoG has clearly
demonstrated its
willingness to resort to acts of violence, and even possibly to engage
in politically-motivated
acts of terror on a small scale. This election marked the first time
that the level of violence
was so elevated that local election monitors were forced to be removed
from the polling
stations they had been assigned to monitor. The examples outlined in
this report also
demonstrate how governmental resources tainted all illegal aspects of
the parliamentary
elections of May 21, 2008.
The current tragedy of Georgian elections can be seen in the downfall
of the evolution of the
country’s democratic processes and institutions. A country that had
been known for its initial
reforms following the Rose Revolution and heralded throughout the
world as a beacon of
democracy has reverted to the political status of an evolving third
world single party rule. The
specific instances described in this full report have befallen
observers of many civil society
organizations, including observers of our Human Rights Centre. This
political related
violence started before the elections, reached a peak on Election Day,
and still continues with
beatings, threats, and other punitive measures in the uncertain and
agitated post election
period.
TV and radio stations are still under pressure. Imedi Radio, for
instance, has been reorganized
in such a manner that it is no longer a voice in the wilderness of
injustice. Governmental
control over media outlets has been almost completed. In many
instances, self-censorship
over many media outlets has become the standard. The November 7, 2007
raiding of the
Imedi TV has been well-documented, and this set a process in motion of
fear and intimidation
that further restricts citizens and civil society from being able to
exercise freedom of speech
and participate in the political process.
Private TV companies, such as “Rustavi 2” and “Mze”, have consistently
carried what is best
described as biased coverage of political events. However, it is a
positive sign that the newly
installed administration of Georgian Public Broadcasting has attempted
to create an
environment of neutral news coverage. On the whole, the opposition
political parties were not
given the same opportunities to communicate their political messages
on the same level as the
ruling National Party.
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The cost of advertising was increased in the pre-election period, and
this too may be rooted in
political expediency on the part of the current Georgian Government.
In retrospect, it now appears that the presence of international
observers had little if any
impact on the holding of free and fair elections. The majority of
instances when blatant
election violations occurred, which included instances of violence,
international observers
were out of range. The presence of foreign observers had little impact
on the overall
situation; any semblance of democracy deteriorated upon the departure
of foreign observers
from the polling stations.
Nonetheless, some of the most blatant crimes against Georgian citizens
were noted in the preelection
campaign period. People were threatened with job loses, being jailed,
or being told
that their family members would have problems. Authorities operated
with a sense of
complete impunity. School teachers were a group particularly repressed
with threats. They
were expected to show complete support for the ruling party, and its
slate of candidates.
The rigged Parliamentary Elections of 2008 have effectively placed
shackles on peaceful
assembly and/or being able to exercise any semblance of free speech.
Moreover, not only the
ruling party abused administrative resources, but participation of the
opposition political
parties in the formation and decision-making within election
administrations was severely
minimized. In some instances, threats and even physical force were
used to further reduce the
contributions that a wide range of political parties and stakeholders
might have on elections
and operational procedures.
The government has once again failed to produce reliable voter lists,
and the flawed lists
often included those who were dead. In some instances, citizens who
did not have progovernment
views were removed from the voting lists without any explanations.
Often
voters were told to not bother to even show up on Election Day, as to
do so would create
problems for them.
There have been also serious allegations that several thousand ID
cards without indication of
any registration address had been printed just prior to the elections.
These IDs were meant to
be used for the “Merry-Go-Round” carousel form of voting as well as
other innovative
methods of election fraud. However, The Human Rights Centre has no
evidence to
substantiate this claim at this time; however, our observers witnessed
representatives of the
“National Movement” carrying hundreds of ID cards on Election Day,
which raises serious
questions on why the cards were needed in the first place, and casts
additional doubt on the
source of the IDs.
Regrettably, the Human Rights Centre could not monitor the final and
often most
controversial stage of elections–counting, because of the increasingly
unsafe situation in
many of the polling stations. Several observers including Nana Pajava
(in Zugdidi) and Gela
Mtivlishvili (in Kakheti) were victims of physical violence and had
their cameras broken.
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Assaulted observers applied to the prosecutor’s offices in the
districts where they were
attacked and demanded that criminal cases be opened. However, since
those criminally
responsible for the instances of violence were representatives of the
“National Movement” –
there is little hope that the perpetrators will be held legally
accountable, and the observers
may again be victims if they push for their rights to be protected
under the law.
Despite all experienced difficulties, observers of the Human Rights
Centre did manage to
document many of the irregularities and fraud that openly transpired
on Election Day. Several
examples of illegal acts include: verbal and physical abuse of
observers, opposition PEC
precinct members, and voters; ballot box stuffing, the use of pre-
marked ballots; an absence
of ink marking, which was in addition accompanied with “Merry Go
Round” carousel
violations; and, across the board refusal of election commissions to
accept and register
complaints, etc.
The Human Rights Centre fully shares the findings of the Norwegian
Helsinki Committee
representatives on the Khurcha incident. Evidence available to the
Human Rights Centre is
sufficient to conclude that the Khurcha incident was a staged pre-
planned event by the
Georgian Government. Its intention was to draw public attention away
from the election
fraud, and to further its plans in the military sphere. We are also
supporting the need for an
independent investigation of the incident.
Georgian society, after repeatedly witnessing falsified elections over
the last decade, has lost
confidence in its institutions and this can have far-reaching
consequences on the political
orientation of the country as a whole. The lack in trust in the
democratic election process in
the ability of state institutions to assure political impartiality is
a problem that will be hard to
reverse. Disappointingly, the international community has failed to
provide a realistic
assessment of the elections since 2003, which has contributed to the
marginalization of an
already weak political opposition.
Existence of a representative legislature, elected through free and
transparent elections is a
basis of a democratic society. Democratic elections are at the core of
democratic state
building and a civil society. This right has been regularly infringed
upon in Georgia, and the
cases described in this report are not isolated and not regionally
specific, either. Georgian
society cannot bear the cost of any more rigged elections and
governments that are unelected.
Officially, the US State Department hailed the May 21 parliamentary
elections a great
success and as one more step for Georgia on the Road to Democracy.
However, in spite of all
the complimentary press, it is not really realistic to speak of the
results. It is alarmingly
obvious that the new 150-member Georgian Parliament has been stacked
in the favor of the
majority ruling National Party. The old status quo is thus maintained,
and Georgians are in
many respects less free now than anytime in the last 15 years.
Georgian elections were well-funded. However, what escapes critical
attention is how the
powers of the state [police] were used to secure the outcomes. Police
could be seen both
inside and outside of the polling stations on Election Day, regardless
of the written law; they
acted brazenly with a sense of guaranteed impunity.
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Police were parked in cars outside, standing in the doorways and often
armed. If the sheer
presence of police outside polls was not intimidating enough, there
was the matter of police
and Special Forces who were seen inside polling stations, which is
considered by both local
and international observers as a breach of election laws, and blatant
voter intimidation.
There are also serious allegations of how criminal elements were used
to intimidate voters
and make sure that the results would show a clear-cut win for those
candidates of the ruling
National Movement Party. This was done in combination with a tediously
executed plan of
purging many voters from the election lists, especially those whose
political loyalty which
did not coincide with the political orientation of the ruling Majority
party of president-elect
Mikheil Saakashvili.
There is little doubt in the minds of most local observers that the
May 21, 2008 parliamentary
elections were rigged. The 2004 parliamentary elections were held
under OSCE
recommendations, but in 2008 they were totally ignored and with a
sense of complete
disregard for the letter of the law. This represents a great step
backwards on the road to
democracy.
Now is the time to correct the mistakes made, and to punish those
violators and to correct the
procedures that have allowed an election to be stolen from the
Georgian people. It is because
of a combination of unqualified support for a current unelected
government and the
willingness for some to look the other way for the sake of political
expediency has Georgia
found itself in nearly a crisis situation.
Under such conditions, it is clear that it is easier for a government
to violate some of the most
basic of human rights – the right to vote – and now the level of
public mistrust towards
international institutions and the Georgian government has fallen so
much.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Those responsible for election related violations should be
investigated and held
accountable to the fullest extent of the law, including those who may
have been
involved at the highest level, including within national political
parties, police,
security agencies and the Central Election Commission;
• There should be an independent outside investigation of
parliamentary elections; and
a special independent commission be established to hear claims of
violations, and to
prepare investigative case materials that can then be provided to the
criminal justice
system for prosecution.
• There should be an independent investigation of the “systemic
corruption” that has
allowed such widespread fraud to take place;
• An independent international investigation should be made of the
Khurcha Shooting
and Mortar Incident, with representatives of the European Union,
United Nations, the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Russian
peacekeepers.
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• The results of the snap May 21, 2008 snap-parliamentary elections
should be declared
null and void; new elections should be scheduled in the nearest
future, with the help
of “active” international observers, who will not only serve as
observers but equal
stakeholders in guaranteeing that free and fair elections be held;
• There needs to be a total overall of Georgian Election laws that
will reform the
structure and nature of election procedures, and that firewalls be
installed that will
further guarantee free and fair elections, including backup forms of
voting, including
electronic voting (that will provide checks and balances).
• Police and governmental representatives should be barred from
polling stations, not
allowed to congregate in close proximity.
• The CEC should be completely reorganized and that it will be
controlled by
representatives of NGOs, civil society and international organizations
– it needs to
operate independently of governmental oversight – as an independent
entity under
public law;
• The structure of the reformed CEC should include political
representation on an
proportional basis, organized in such a way that the majority are not
from the National
Party or any other political block, so as to provide fair advantages
in decision-making
and policy formation, [which appears to have been the disproportionate
case] of the
recent reorganization of the Board of Trustees for Georgian Public
Broadcasting,
• It is also essential that all such commissions and meetings be
opened to the public and
that all proceedings be aired live – or order to assure the greatest
degree of
transparency possible, no closed-door meetings would be allowed.
Finally, in light of the flawed and invalid Parliamentary Elections
and result of 2008,
Georgian civil society needs to be more active and focused when it
comes to monitoring the
observance of the standards set by international practice and under
acting Georgian election
legislation. It will take many years and a concerted effort by many
stakeholders to restore
public confidence in democratic-election procedures in Georgia.
We hope the details and facts and case studies contained within this
report make it clear and
transparent to all people, both within and outside of Georgia, that
much work is needed
before Georgia will be able to tout democracy as a reality.