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წევრი No.: 8805
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#8198593 · 19 Jan 2008, 01:08 · · პროფილი · პირადი მიმოწერა · ჩატი
cocolina
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Election Observation Mission
Georgia
Extraordinary Presidential Election 2008
POST-ELECTION INTERIM REPORT
6–18 January 2008
On 6 January, the International Election Observation Mission (IEOM), comprising the
OSCE/ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe and the European Parliament, issued a joint Statement of Preliminary
Findings and Conclusions. This statement reported that the process “was in essence consistent
with most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections,
[but] significant challenges were revealed which need to be addressed urgently.” The
statement also signaled that the final assessment of the election depends, in part, on the
conduct of the remaining stages of the election process, including the tabulation and
announcement of final results and the handling of possible post-election day complaints or
appeals.
This interim report should be read in conjunction with pre-election interim reports, as well as
the statement of preliminary findings and conclusions. The OSCE/ODIHR will issue a
comprehensive final report including recommendations in the coming weeks.
Executive Summary
· On 13 January, the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced that Mikheil
Saakashvili was elected President in the first round of the election, with 53.5 per cent of
the vote.
· The political environment remained polarized after election day, with opposition parties
claiming widespread irregularities and fraud, and demanding that results that were found
to have been falsified be annulled and calling for a second round.
· The OSCE/ODIHR EOM identified a number of problems during the tabulation process,
including examples of different data in protocols provided by Precinct Election
Commissions (PECs) and District Election Commissions (DECs), and some PECs
reporting unusually high turnout particularly during the last hours of voting.
· When counting ballots cast by voters added to additional voter lists on election day, the
CEC did not apply uniform procedures, especially when deciding on ballot validity.
· The election administration at all levels and the courts did not fully and adequately
consider and investigate a considerable number of complaints regarding irregularities in
voting, counting and tabulation of election results.
Political Environment
The political environment has remained polarized, and following election day the opposition
claimed widespread irregularities and fraud, notably in regions inhabited by national
minorities. On 8 January, Levan Gachechiladze, candidate of the United Public Movement
(UPM), and several supporters stormed into the CEC to confront the CEC Chair. Their
principal demand was that results found to have been falsified be annulled, with the
possibility that this could bring Mr. Saakashvili’s vote below 50 per cent and require a second
round. In addition, Mr. Gachechiladze claimed that after election day he was not given live
OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Page 2
Georgia, Extraordinary Presidential Election 2008
Post-Election Interim Report (6–18 January 2008)
coverage by most television channels. Opposition activists and sympathetic NGOs held
demonstrations outside the CEC and the Georgian Public Broadcaster.
On 13 January, the CEC announced that Mikheil Saakashvili had won 53.5 per cent of the
vote, sufficient to be elected in the first round against 25.7 per cent for Mr. Gachechiladze.
All other candidates received less than 10 per cent. Following the announcement of the
results, the opposition held demonstrations on 13 January, which they said would continue.
Tabulation and Announcement of Election Results
The IEOM observed the vote count and completion of results protocols at 180 PECs. A
significant 23 per cent of counts observed were assessed as bad or very bad. Observers
reported that in 8 per cent of counts observed, they had witnessed tampering with results
protocols. In 21 per cent of counts observed, they reported significant procedural errors or
omissions. According to IEOM and other domestic party and non-partisan observers, many
protocols lacked required information or stamps and signatures. Data frequently showed
inconsistencies; CEC staff informed the OSCE/ODIHR EOM that in around 940 of 3,511
PECs, the number of voters who voted did not reconcile with the sum of valid and invalid
votes.
The CEC started posting results protocols on its website in the early morning of the day after
the election. While this was a positive step, the posting of results proceeded at a slow rate. On
9 January, the CEC Chairperson announced preliminary results based on 3,482 PEC
protocols.
OSCE/ODIHR EOM observers described the tabulation process at the DEC level as slow, not
very well organized, and often chaotic. In some DECs, they noted a tense atmosphere during
tabulation. There were cases in which PEC protocols given to the OSCE/ODIHR EOM
differed from those provided by DECs. For example, protocols provided by DECs for Batumi
(PECs 11 and 73), Lentekhi (PEC 1), and Dmanisi (PEC 30) showed a significant increase of
votes cast for Mr. Saakashvili.
Observers from the New Generation – New Initiative NGO informed the OSCE/ODIHR
EOM that PECs were frequently unaware how to fill in the results protocols. Several PEC
protocols from DEC 41 in Ninotsminda reviewed by the OSCE/ODIHR EOM appear to have
been completed by one and the same person. Instances were noted where DECs corrected
PEC protocols, and these were posted on the CEC website for PECs 5, 22, 24 and 35 in
Ninotsminda, alongside the original PEC protocols. This action was taken despite the fact that
the law does not explicitly envisage DEC corrections to PEC protocols, and according to the
Electoral Code, DECs have a limited role in the vote tabulation process.
The CEC announced that the overall turnout was 56.19 per cent. In several DECs, the
turnout was considerably higher than the average. Some 23 PECs reported 100 per cent
turnout1, while another 205 commissions reported turnout between 90 and 100 per cent.
A significant number of PECs reported unusually high turnout during the last three hours of
voting. According to the information produced by the CEC shortly after election day and
received by the OSCE/ODIHR EOM, at 79 polling stations, more than 500 voters cast their
1 This figure does not include 41 polling stations where PECs mistakenly entered the number of voters
who voted in the line of the protocol intended for the total number of voters on the voter lists.
OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Page 3
Georgia, Extraordinary Presidential Election 2008
Post-Election Interim Report (6–18 January 2008)
ballots during this period.2 For instance, in Marneuli, 866 people voted in PEC 50 during the
last three hours, and 657 in PEC 1. In Sagarejo, 822 voters were processed by PEC 36 in the
last three hours, and in Akhalkalaki, 879 by PEC 24. Based on more complete information
drawn from protocols now posted on the CEC website, as of 17 January, the number of such
polling stations now stands at 45.
Around 85,000 voters were added to additional voter lists on election day. As provided by
law, some 930 PECs did not count ballots cast by these voters themselves and sent these
ballots to the CEC, which on 7 January decided to count them3. On 8 January, several groups
composed of CEC members and staff started the count. The count took place in chaotic
circumstances, and the counting groups did not apply uniform procedures, especially when
deciding on ballot validity.
In this context, the OSCE/ODIHR EOM observers noted that a significant number of ballots
from some PECs in certain DECs appeared to have been filled out in identical fashion, raising
suspicion of wrongdoing. In such cases, numbers of all but one candidate on ballots had been
circled, or all but one name had been crossed out identically. Such cases in which identical
patterns of ballot marking were observed, were noted in DEC 6 (PECs 54 and 56, DEC 32
(PEC 81), DEC 60 (PEC 41), and DEC 61 (PEC 16). While some ballots completed in the
above described manner were invalidated, in the majority of cases, these ballots were
considered valid based on a new CEC ordinance “On identifying invalid ballot papers cast by
voters added to the additional voter lists that are counted at CEC”, and adopted only after
election day on 10 January. The ordinance offered a more liberal interpretation of ballot
validity than that contained in the Electoral Code.
Some PECs did not send copies of IDs to accompany the ballots as required by law4, but the
ballots were counted anyway. The CEC drew up only one general protocol for all PECs that
sent ballots cast by voters added to the additional voter lists on election day, lacking detailed
data for individual PECs, and attaching a separate table with PEC results. On 11 January, the
CEC approved the protocol on the count of additional votes, but it was only signed by seven
of 13 CEC members.
On 10 January, the UPM at a press conference claimed its members had found sealed
envelopes with ballots cast by voters added to additional voter lists on a rubbish tip on the
outskirts of Tbilisi. On 12 January, a UPM representative presented these envelopes during a
CEC session, but the CEC Chair refused to accept them, arguing that ballots are State
documents and that the finder should hand them to the police for criminal investigation.
On 13 January, the CEC approved the final election results. The CEC members appointed by
opposition parties argued that there were many violations and complaints which the CEC had
not reviewed, and that the results could therefore not be approved. Seven members voted to
approve the final results, while six opposition-appointed members voted against.
2 This figure does not include polling stations which also counted ballots cast at nearby special polling
stations, as per information provided by the CEC.
3 Under the law, decisions by PECs to count ballots cast by voters registered on additional voter lists on
election day at polling stations are taken by two-thirds of votes of a commission. The CEC applies the
same procedure.
4 Article 1297.5 of the Electoral Code.
OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Page 4
Georgia, Extraordinary Presidential Election 2008
Post-Election Interim Report (6–18 January 2008)
Complaints and Appeals
The election administration at all levels, and the courts, did not fully and adequately consider
and investigate a considerable number of complaints regarding irregularities in voting,
counting and tabulation of election results. Some complaints included serious allegations of
multiple voting, ballot stuffing, and tampering with protocols, with requests for annulment of
a significant number of PEC summary protocols. The vast majority of these complaints were
submitted by opposition parties and domestic NGOs, with almost none filed by the ruling
party. There was an apparent avoidance to substantively consider complaints. The
OSCE/ODIHR EOM received accounts that law enforcement bodies, local administration and
courts actively discouraged observers and opposition supporters not to file complaints or
suggested to withdraw them.
PECs received approximately one thousand complaints, with additional instances when PECs
refused to register complaints. DECs received several hundred complaints (also refusing to
register some), of which almost all were rejected on grounds of technical inadmissibility or as
legally ungrounded. DECs at times arbitrarily applied admissibility requirements, without
providing complainants an opportunity to correct technical problems, failed to follow due
process in consideration of complaints and did not adequately investigate claims.
The CEC received few complaints, some with serious allegations. It rejected or ruled
inadmissible the majority of them5, without providing due consideration or sound legal
reasoning. It incorrectly refused to consider several complaints requesting annulment of
protocols, on grounds that only the courts had authority to do so6. In addition, the CEC Chair
incorrectly declared that the CEC did not have investigative powers. In one instance the CEC
refused to review the official video recording of an alleged incident in a PEC, stating that the
CEC had no authority to do so. However, in a 17 January statement the CEC announced that it
was now ready to provide parties the opportunity to review video recordings of voting day
procedures at polling station level, upon written request, although this decision comes after
the deadline for the submission of complaints related to election results.
Of more than 50 appeals to city courts, the vast majority were rejected, most as inadmissible
for technical reasons. Twelve PEC summary protocols were annulled in total, which
amounted to the cancellation of results in those polling stations. The OSCE/ODIHR EOM is
aware of a number of criminal investigations initiated related to events on election day.
As of 15 January, the deadline expired for the submission of complaints to rayon and city
courts, including the Tbilisi city court. On 15 January, four complaints against final results as
announced by the CEC were lodged with the Tbilisi city court by representatives of three
candidates in the election (Arkadi Patarkatsishvili-independent candidate, Shalva
Natelashvili-Labour Party, Levan Gachechiladze-UPM), and by the Free Professional Union
of Georgia’s Teachers and Scientists. An additional complaint was accepted by the Tbilisi city
court one day after the deadline on 16 January, on behalf of Davit Gamkrelidze-New Rights
Party. All five of these complaints demanded nullification of final election results due to
alleged irregularities, and all five were rejected as groundless. On 18 January, three
candidates submitted appeals with the Tbilisi court of appeal. The courts of appeal are the last
5 According to information provided by the authorities, the six complaints were upheld and results of
respective polling stations annulled.
6 Article 29.1.m of the Electoral Code states that the CEC “by its own initiative or under the
application/petition check the legitimacy of decisions and acts of election commissions, their officials,
and in case of any revealed violation shall invalidate or revise them by its own decree…”
OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Page 5
Georgia, Extraordinary Presidential Election 2008
Post-Election Interim Report (6–18 January 2008)
instance for judicial redress of election-related cases, and final decisions would be announced
by 20 January.
After the election day, some 30 cases of appeal against decisions of city and rayon courts,
most of which had rejected requests for invalidation of PEC and DEC result protocols, were
submitted to the courts of appeal in Tbilisi and Kutaisi. All these cases were either rejected or
not satisfied.
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ეუთოს მორიგი შეფასება (ძალიან უარყოფითი), as bad or very bad.
