On October 21, voters will elect 2058 members of 64 Sakrebulos and 64 mayors
Municipal Elections will be held on October 21. On October 21, voters will elect 2058 members of 64 Sakrebulos and 64 mayors.
22 political parties, five election blocs, and one initiative group is registered at the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia, and 200 initiative groups are registered by District Election Commissions (DEC) for October 21, 2017 Municipal Elections.
369 mayoral candidates are registered, including 13 in Tbilisi for upcoming elections. A number of registered majoritarian candidates amounts to 4727. According to party lists, a number of candidates running for Sakrebulo membership stand as 12 902.
3,644 polling stations are fully ready (including 10 election precincts created in exceptional cases) to conduct elections.
More than 54 000 representatives of elections subjects (54 389), more than 20 000 (20 641) representatives of local observer organizations and 581 observers from international organizations will observe the elections. More than 4000 (4 820) journalists cover the election process.
On October 21, at 08:00 a.m. all election precincts will be ready to receive voters. Ballot papers, protocols are already handed to DECs and active process of delivery of election documentation and relevant materials is underway. Election precincts are equipped with all the necessary equipment. All the members of polling station have undergone training courses and they are ready to conduct the elections.
2 magnifying sheets are accessible for voters with visual impairments at every election precinct, whereas blind voters may use tactile ballot guide. Deaf voters and voters with hearing impairments as well as beneficiaries of support may access posters reflecting polling procedures at every election precinct. 1153 special ballot booths at the identified election precincts are available for the voters using wheelchairs.
3 440 123 voters are in the unified list of voters. In order to facilitate the data verification of voters and their family members, we offered a number of innovative services to the electorate; It should be noted that 681 824 voters used these services.
9 546 450 ballot papers are printed for Municipal Elections. It is worth underlining, that ballot papers for ethnic minorities are printed into Georgian-Azerbaijani and Georgian-Armenian languages. 208 election precincts are supplied with ballot papers in Georgian-Azerbaijani language, and 133 election precincts with Georgian-Armenian. In addition, trilingual ballot papers (Georgian-Azerbaijani-Armenian languages) will be printed for four election precincts.
We offered innovative service to deaf voters and voters with hearing impairments, namely, they may receive information through video call and in sign language at CEC Call Center.
We have important news for electoral stakeholders – we have created online registration programme which is absolutely unique. As I mentioned before, more than 54 000 representatives of election subjects will observe the elections and majority of them, nearly 95 % of representatives were appointed online at all levels of commissions.
I would like to remind you that according to the election legislation, the agitation on E-day is banned at polling station premise. I would like to address as voters so all authorized persons at election precincts, not to show up at polling stations with advertising/agitation attributes of political subjects. This action may result in fine.
Additionally, on 21 October it is also prohibited to broadcast paid or free commercials on TV and radio and publish public opinion polls about election results until the end of the elections.
We also would like to remind representatives of election subjects and local observers regarding violation of procedures, and submit application/complaint to the relevant precinct election commission (PEC) once the violation is detected; if the response on complaint fails, appellant may immediately submit the same application/complaint to upper DEC. Herewith, we would like to remind you that any kind of complaint submitted to the CEC with regard to violation of procedures in election precincts, based on the legislation, will remain undiscussed.
Following the completion of polling process, vote counting procedures will start at 20:00 p.m. on October 21. Once PEC summary protocols are composed, relevant DECs will deliver them to the CEC in the shortest possible time and immediately after receiving, summary protocols will be uploaded to the special website www.results.cec.gov.ge.
Summary protocols are being uploaded to the CEC results summarizing center and operators enter the summary protocol data in the special program.
With this, today we present another new initiative, which implies to the direct involvement of NGOs in the process of summarizing the results.
Those non-governmental organizations which actively attend CEC sessions, monitor activities of the Commission and participate in the activities organized by Election Administration, may engage in process of summarizing results, namely, their representatives along with CEC operators may enter PEC summary protocol data in the special program.
It should be noted that for the purpose of ensuring the conduct of October 21, 2017 Municipal Elections in a transparent and democratic way, CEC allows anyone to observe the process of summarizing the preliminary results at CEC via internet livestream. A 360-degree camera will be used to broadcast the process through Facebook, Youtube and CEC official webpage.
The CEC call Center - 2 51 00 51 and online chat will work for 24 hours. On October 21, the media center will work for 24 hours at the CEC, where media and observer organizations may receive relevant information on interesting topics. News briefings will be held at the CEC media center during the E-day.
Finally, we call on the voters with due civic responsibility to actively participate in the elections. We also call upon all election stakeholders to respect public interest, take responsibility, act in accordance with the principles of rule of law, and support the conduct of elections in a free and peaceful environment and freedom of expression.
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On elections of President of Turkmenistan to the 13 o'clock 71,90% of voters voted
On elections of President of Turkmenistan to the 13 o'clock 71,90% of voters voted.
According to Ahal province voted 71,86%, Balkan province 73,46%, Dashoguz province 70,73%, Lebap province 71,29%, the Mary province 72,71% in the city of Ashgabat 72,83% of voters.
Also, 63,19% of voters voted at polling stations abroad.
Voting continues.
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Head of the Central Election Commission of Turkmenistan met with representatives of the Supreme Electoral Council of the Republic of Turkey
On March 10, 2022, Gulmyrat Muradov, the head of the of apparatus of the Commission for holding Elections and referendums in Turkmenistan met with Muharram Akkaya, head of the Supreme Electoral Council of the Republic of Turkey, and Ali Urker, member of the Supreme Electoral Council of the Republic of Turkey, who arrived in our country as international observers. About this reports website of Central Commission for Holding Elections and Referendums in Turkmenistan.
The head of the Central Election Commission of Turkmenistan said that he was pleased to see representatives of the friendly state in Turkmenistan as international observers, informed them about conduct and preparation works on elections on March 12, 2022 as well as introduced the provisions of the electoral law.
At the end of the meeting, the representatives of the Supreme Electoral Council of the Republic of Turkey, our fraternal state, wished the head of the Central Election Commission of Turkmenistan organized helding of the important political and public event on March 12.
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PARLIAMENT ELECTING CEC CHAIR WITH 85 VOTES
The Parliament elected the Chairman of the Central Election Commission and two members of the commission. They announced it recently.
In the primary ballot, two candidates for the CEC chairmanship: Tengiz Tevzadze and Giorgi Kalandarishvili, failed to get two-thirds (100) votes in the full parliament.According to the law, Giorgi Kalandarishvili was elected as the Chairman of the Central Election Commission for a term of 6 months by 84 votes against 2 in the second round of voting.
As for the election of professional members of the CEC - the MPs voted for 4 candidates for 2 vacant positions - Kristine Kajaia, Levan Isakadze, Maia Zaridze and Gia Tsatsashvili.
Similar to the election of the CEC Chairpaerson, none of the candidates managed to get 2/3 of the votes in the primary ballot.
As a result of repeated vote, Maia Zaridze was elected as a member of the Central Election Commission with 79 votes against 2 and Gia Tsatsashvili with 77 votes against 2, also for 6 months.
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Statistics of Recounts of the Second Round of Municipal Elections
Following the election legislation and by the CEC Chairperson’s initiative results of 201 election precincts are recounted in total by November 1st. The Central Election Commission delivers detailed statistics on the recounts: relevant district election commissions recounted election results of obligatory 5-5 polling stations and the data of 2-2 election precincts that fell under the recommendation issued by the CEC. As of now, 11% of 1830 election precincts are recounted. Through the country, in the mayoral contest, the number of votes for the “United National Movement” decreased by 21, and 28 votes were added to the mentioned political party. The number of votes for “Georgian Dream” was decreased by 10 votes and 23 votes were added, 2 votes were added to the election subject “Tamaz Mechiauti for United Georgia”.
Recounts neither affected the DECs’ preliminary results of the second round of elections nor election precincts’.
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U.S. Embassy Statement Following the Second Round of Georgian Municipal Elections
After a long and divisive campaign, the people of Georgia cast their votes in the second round of municipal elections on October 30. We commend the voters, and dedicated election workers, representatives of Georgia’s professional domestic election observation organizations and NGOs, and international monitors who participated despite the COVID pandemic and a tense election environment.
We share ODIHR’s assessment that the elections were generally calm and well-administered but allegations of intimidation and pressure on voters persisted and continued polarization, coupled with the escalation of negative rhetoric, adversely affected the process. Sharp imbalances of resources and an undue advantage of incumbency further tilted the playing field. ODIHR also noted concerns with the persistent practice of representatives of observer organizations acting as party supporters, at times interfering with the process, and groups of individuals potentially influencing voters outside some polling stations. While ODIHR found that the CEC organized the second round in a professional and transparent manner, concerns over the impartiality of the lower-level election commissions persisted. U.S. Embassy election observation teams witnessed similar interference and bias at several precincts.
As these elections have shown, democracy is a work in progress. It requires dedication to the highest international standards and vigilance to ensure citizens’ rights and freedoms are protected. Some of the reforms enacted by Georgia’s political leaders through an inclusive, multiparty process earlier this year, such as automatic recounts and electronic vote counting, largely succeeded in increasing the transparency of the voting process.
These positive steps forward were undermined, unfortunately, by wide-spread violations in the pre-election period and on both election days that adversely affected the ability of citizens to vote freely. Rather than improving the atmosphere by addressing problems identified by election observers in the first round, intimidation, offensive rhetoric, misuse of administrative resources, and reports of blatant vote-buying and other violations continued, and a politicized media further inflamed the polarized atmosphere.
We are particularly troubled by credible reports of violence against election observers and the media during both rounds of the election. These groups are the cornerstone of any democracy, and attacks against members of the media and election observers must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Their reports should be viewed as providing valuable information that can improve the electoral process.
The election process now continues with random recounts of at least 140 precincts and the adjudication of hundreds of complaints. This phase is both a test and an opportunity for the Central Election Commission and the courts, and it will be critical for these institutions to perform their duties transparently and impartially. We call on the parties to use the legal mechanisms available and pursue peaceful means to adjudicate election disputes. Democracy in Georgia will not be strengthened by resorting to violence or pursuing solutions outside the law.
Each election – even imperfect ones – offers lessons learned and an opportunity to address persistent abuses that have degraded recent elections and eroded the public’s trust in their democratic institutions. As a start, we urge Georgia’s leaders to enact and implement all the remaining reforms recommended by ODIHR, the Venice Commission, and other international experts. These recommendations were provided at Parliament’s request and would be a significant step toward ensuring the next elections are an improvement over the last.
The American people have supported Georgia’s efforts throughout the long, challenging process of building strong institutions, a robust civil society, a professional, pluralistic media, and a government that is responsive to the people. The recent elections and Georgia’s deeply divisive political environment show much more work is urgently needed. The United States has offered our friendship as an honest partner to the people and government of Georgia because we believe in Georgia’s future as a stable, prosperous democracy that respects the rule of law, human rights, and fundamental freedoms. We remain committed to helping Georgia achieve those goals.
U.S. Embassy Statement
