In a truly indefensible display of petty partisanship, the six opposition representatives on the Central Election Commission have voted against allowing Georgian soldiers serving abroad to cast a ballot on January 5.

The flimsy excuse opposition representatives gave was that under (their outlandish interpretation of) Article 70 of the Georgian constitution, elections cannot be run where a state of emergency is in effect.

An outraged ruling party, in a rare moment of indisputable certitude, accused the opposition commissioners of trying to deny 2000 servicemen and women their votes solely because they will probably support Mikheil Saakashvili.

They are right. There can be no other explanation for the partisan split on the CEC.

This is not the most egregious example of dirty campaigning this season, and it seems almost trivial compared to the political persecutions and even assassinations of earlier years. In that light, it may seem like asking for too much to look to CEC members for some semblance of objectivity and cooperation across party lines.

It is not. To avoid potentially disastrous fallout from the January 5 election, the results of which are sure to be challenged whatever the outcome, the CEC must wage its own campaign to convince a justifiably cynical electorate that it will do its utmost to oversee a free and fair election.

Violating the voting rights of Georgian soldiers for a nickel-and-dime political advantage will hardly help. And beyond that, the ill-advised opposition commissioners responsible for this are not merely violating the principles of their post—they are also shooting themselves in the foot in tactical terms.

The army is one of the few widely popular national institutions, and the ruling party will certainly milk this misstep as much as it can to paint the opposition—accurately, it seems—as willing to sacrifice the country’s soldiers for petty political gains.

The opposition parties are vastly outgunned by the Saakashvili campaign’s resources; their advantage was in holding the moral high ground after the events of November 7. More stunts like this will send them slipping off that hallowed plane in no time at all.