CEC Statement on Accusations against the Election Administration

The Central Election Commission of Georgia responded to the statement of Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the election bloc “Bidzina Ivanishvili - Georgian Dream”, released to TV Channel 9, show “Main Question”, on August 31.

As Ivanishvili stated “... the CEC office will be closed for one or two hours, or they will suspend the process resembling the previous elections, they will rewrite the sheets, will expel our commission members, etc, and afterwards will summarize and publish the results . . . “

CEC states that making such assessments is related with lack of confidence in the electoral process and worsens the electoral environment.

“The above mentioned statement, made during the TV show, gives us basis to reckon that we deal with the absence of knowledge about the election administration activities. In order to avoid such mislead in the future, we would like to offer Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili to visit the Central Election Commission of Georgia on Monday, September 3 and personally get introduced to the election administration activities,” CEC statement reads.

CEC has also made amendments in the ordinance “On Appointing and Determining the Authorities of the CEC Representatives for the Elections of the Parliament of Georgia of October 1, 2012”.

The CEC registered 5 international observer organizations for the Parliamentary Elections 2012: “Central Election Commission of Latvia”, “Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan”, “Central Election Commission of the Republic of Armenia”, “Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia” and “Embassy of the Republic of France in Georgia”; The commission did not accept the request of registration of “International Expert Center for Electoral Systems” (ICES).

At the same session, local NGO - “Research Center of Election Systems” was registered for the Parliamentary Elections.

Together this CEC of Georgia approved special lists of voters of the election precincts, created for ensuring the participation of the Georgian citizens, serving at peacekeeping battalions of Georgian Armed Forces in Afghanistan, in the proportional Parliamentary Elections of October 1, 2012.

At the same session, the CEC of Georgia registered following international observer organizations for the Parliamentary Elections 2012: Embassy of the United States of America in Georgia, Embassy of Romania in Georgia, Election and Referendum Department of Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic and Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Holding of Republican Referenda.