In a major setback to President Salome Zurabichvili, the central election commission of Georgia rejects her allegations of poll violation. The President of Georgia refused to recognise the results of the October 26 elections for parliament.
The comments from the Central Election Commission of Georgia came after the accusation of the president that “The Ruling regime of Georgia under Georgian Dream have violated the code of conduct related to elections.”
It is worth noting that the President stated specifically that this was not a fair election due to a high violation of the election code of conduct. Moreover, people were threatened by Georgian Dream to cast elections in their favour.
President made these comments in her interview with domestic as well as international media houses. She also raised this issue on many platforms and called for independent investigation.
As per the president’s allegation, Georgian Dream misused citizens’ ID cards multiple times. In some cases, they used this ID card seven to ten and seventeen times.
The Georgian election commission, in its reaction said the President’s statements are unfortunate. The President with these statements is trying to discredit the election commission and its credibility.
As per the Central Election Commission of Georgia the elections were conducted in a very fair and transparent manner by the commission’s machinery. Moreover the whole process was supervised by many regional and international players.
The election commission also added that international observers such as OSCE/ODIHR have confirmed its fairness, but unfortunately, the President is presenting the whole episode in a different way.
It is also to be noted that the American auditing company Pro V&V confirmed the authenticity of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines). This shows no violation of election rules.
The election commission said there is zero possibility of voter list duplication. The election voting machines were introduced to reduce the number of complaints, as per the central election commission.
Notably opposition parties as well as many other non-government organizations and civil society organizations, blamed the Georgian Dream for poll rules violations.
However, the Georgian election commission’s observation is being seen as a setback for all those who were objecting to the election result.
