Transparency International Georgia: Widespread election misconduct enabled by CEC negligence

TI-Georgia reveals election rigging

The Georgian branch of the international anti-corruption organization Transparency International (TI-Georgia) has claimed that executing certain schemes to rig the October 26 parliamentary elections in Georgia would have been impossible without the involvement of various agencies. Therefore, the issue of accountability for the chair of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Giorgi Kalandarishvili, and other individuals must be raised, the agency said.

According to TI-Georgia, election administrations—the CEC and its subordinate commissions—played a crucial role in carrying out the fraud scheme, as trough their actions and inactions, they reportedly enabled the illegal and often criminal activities of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

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Additionally, the joint monitoring mission of civil organizations, My Voice, has demanded the prosecutor’s office to initiate an investigation into alleged official misconduct by the heads of the election administration.

The charges concern criminal offenses such as official negligence or abuse of authority, obstruction of voters’ expression of will, violation of ballot secrecy, participation in elections using forged documents, election fraud, influencing voters’ decisions, and more.

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In its statement, TI-Georgia also highlighted that during the pre-election period, reports consistently surfaced from various sources about the “confiscation” of ID cards from voters, particularly state employees. On election day, these IDs were allegedly used to vote on behalf of others. According to the organization, this was made possible, in part, due to negligence by CEC staff.

In turn, the My Voice organization claimed, among other things, that the CEC’s decision not to open additional polling stations abroad resulted in many being unable to participate in the election. The organization stated that this also facilitated the ruling party’s plan, allowing votes to be cast on behalf of those who were either not in Georgia or registered at different addresses.

TI-Georgia reveals election rigging