In Georgia, election results were canceled in dozens of precincts due to violations

The court of the city of Tetri-Tskaro in the south of Georgia satisfied the lawsuit to cancel the results of the parliamentary elections on October 26. The reason is a violation of the secrecy of the vote.

This is reported by the Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia.

The court, through a random selection, checked the ballots of several districts and found out that the back of the ballots had markings with a marker, violating the secrecy of the vote.

The Georgian media SOVA notes that the court invalidated the results at 30 polling stations in the cities of Tetri-Tskaro and Tsalka.

In addition, the Mtavari TV channel reported that the court of the city of Gori satisfied the claim of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) regarding the re-counting of invalid ballots in 15 polling stations.

What is known about this yearʼs elections in Georgia

Parliamentary elections in Georgia were held on October 26. According to the Central Election Commission, the pro-government party "Georgian Dream — Democratic Georgia"; won with 53.9% of the vote. According to Georgian laws, this party gets the right to single-handedly form the government. Four more pro-Western opposition parties overcame the 5% barrier: "Coalition for Changes" — 10.92%, "Unity — National Movement" — 10.12%, "Strong Georgia" — 8.78% and "Gakharia — for Georgia" — 7.76%.

View from different sides

The OSCE representatives stated that the election process in Georgia violated international democratic standards. Observers noticed cases of bribery of votes, double voting, physical violence and intimidation of voters, but the fact of direct falsifications was not confirmed. The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, called for an investigation into the parliamentary elections in Georgia.

On October 28, an action by opposition supporters took place in Tbilisi, where the current president Salome Zurabishvili emphasized the illegitimacy of the elections. One of the leaders of the "United National Movement" party Georgy Vashadze said at the rally that the opposition demands re-elections, which will be held by the international administration.

On October 29, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia declared that it would count the ballots of five polling stations (that is, approximately 14% of the polling stations) in each electoral district to verify the data.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Ukraine "carefully observed the course of the parliamentary elections" in Georgia and supports the conclusions of the international OSCE mission, which recorded numerous violations.

"It is not surprising that their results were highly appreciated and welcomed in Russia, because such methods of influencing the results of will-making are characteristic of the Russian regime. At the same time, they are incompatible with the path to the EU and NATO declared by the Georgian authorities," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The department also called for an investigation into the vote to ensure the legitimacy of the election and avoid a political crisis.

"We call on the Georgian government not to follow the Belarusian path to the loss of sovereignty and independence. "Under any circumstances, Ukraine will support the Georgian people in their desire to continue the strategic course of joining the EU and NATO," added the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

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