Final Versuon Final Report 2014pp Eng 17102014

8/10/2019 Final Versuon Final Report 2014pp Eng 17102014

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2014

Monitoring of 2014 Local Self-

Government Elections Final Report


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2014 Local Self-Government

Elections

Donors:

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands

Open Society Georgia Foundation


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Stages of Monitoring Mission

Pre-election period

Election Day

Post-election period


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Pre-Election Monitoring Mission and

Monitoring Methodology

I Round

Monitoring period:April-June, 2014

Scope :73election districts

Number of observers: 73long-term observers (LTOs)

II Round

Monitoring period: June-July, 2014

Scope :28 election districts

Number of observers: 28long-term observers (LTOs)


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Pre-Election Monitoring Mission and

Monitoring Methodology

The pre-election monitoring focused on:

Use of state resources;

Activities of election administration and election subjects;

Dismissals from work on political grounds;

Formation of voter lists;

Threats/pressure and vote buying;

Monitoring the meetings of parties with voters;

Monitoring of promises made by parties to voters.


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Pre-Election Violations


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Geographic Distribution of Pre-Election

Violations


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Pre-election violations compared to

2012 Parliamentary and 2013 Presidential

Elections

73

17

11

53

14

5

48

7 6

12

37

2012 2013 2014

Use of State resources

Pressure/Intimidation

Physical violence

Vote buying


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Legislative Reform

Positive aspects of the new regulations introduced in the Election Code

andother legislative acts:

Establishment of 50%+1threshold for the election ofMayors/Gamgebelis;

establishment of 4%threshold for election of all Sakrebulos;

Increasing the number of MPs elected through proportionate electoralsystem in self-governing communities up to 15;

That a building designated for housing a polling station should beaccessible to all voters;

Prohibition of placing a campaign office of a party/election bloc/initiativegroup in a building that houses a District Election Commission wasprohibited;

Increasing funding for political parties as an incentive to increase the

number of women in politics.


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Legislative Reform

Negative aspects of the new regulations:

The inter-factional task force did not take into account

recommendations about the election system, which was the priority

issue;

Initiative groups were prohibited from nominating candidates foroffices of Mayor/Gamgebeli;

The requirement of biometric registration of voters was abolished;

No-confidence motion was introduced against Mayor/Gamgebeli;

Inter-faction group did not discuss such important issue as the

composition of election administration.


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Election Administrationthe CEC

Positive Aspects:

Easy access to the information;

Voter education;

Increasing the number of adapted

electoral precincts in order to

guarantee the equal right to vote.

Main remarks:

Different approaches of the CEC

regarding the registration of election

subjects;

The refusal of the CEC toadequately react on the illegal

political calls by Chorbishop of

Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia;

The refusal of the CEC to recountinvalid ballots.


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Inter-Agency Task Force for Free and Fair

Elections - IATF

Negative aspects of the work of IATF:

o The absence of the implementation of the issued recommendation in the

most cases, as well as lack of monitoring mechanism for the said

recommendations;

o The right of the IATF members to participate in the pre-election

campaigning;

o The absence of any kind of final assessment report regarding the

influence of IATFs work on the pre-election environment and on the

prevention of violations.


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Election Day - I Round

Scope of the monitoring

1030election precincts

o 300PVT polling stations throughout Georgia

o 349PVT polling stations in Tbilisi city

o Full coverage (372PECs) of 11local self-governing cities

o 9polling stations adopted for persons with disabilities

Monitoring mission

o 1030 short-termobserverso 73district observers

o 80mobile teams

o 20lawyersincidents center

o 20operators - PVT/SMS Center


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Voter Turnout


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High Rate of Invalid Ballots and

Irregularities in Summary Protocols

Two main tendencies have been reveled on the Election day:

I - High rate of invalid ballots

The average percentage rate of invalid ballots throughout Georgia was 5%; The rate of invalid ballots up to 10% were observed at 13% of polling stations;

At 66 polling stations the percentage rate of invalid ballots was up to 14%;

The highest percentage rate of invalid ballots were observed in Sagarejo

district, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo-Kartli regions.


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High Rate of Invalid Ballots and

Irregularities in Summary Protocols

II - More than a thousand irregularities and violations in summary

protocols reported at hundreds of polling stations

Up to 500 summery protocols were missing the necessary attributes;

Figures did not reconcile in up to 500 summery protocols;

One or more data were improperly corrected in up to 50 summery protocols;

The highest number of irregularities in summary protocols was found in

Kvemo-Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti regions and in Tbilisi city.


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Election Day - II Round

Scope of Monitoring:o 350PVT polling stations in Tbilisi City;

o All polling stations (390) in 4self-governing cities (Rustavi, Mtskheta, Gori,Ozurgeti) and 7local communities (Khoni, Baghdati, Tkibuli, Terjola,Lanchkhuti, Khulo, Akhmeta);

o In the remaining 7electoral districts (Batumi, Poti, Kobuleti, Telavi, Kvareli,Martvili, Tianeti) ISFED conducted mobile observation.

The Monitoring Mission

740 short-term observers

21 district observer

32mobile teams

15lawyersincidents center

15 operators - PVT/SMSCenter


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Voter Turnout


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Voter Turnout Comparison of the First and

Second rounds in the self-governing cities

37% 36%

55%

35%

49%

34% 34%

47%

40%

51%

Tbilisi Rustavi Mtskheta Gori Ozurgeti

I round II round

I d II R d f El ti El ti D


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I and II Round of Elections: Election Day

and Post-Election Violations and

Complaints

Violations - 398

Comment in the polling day logbook - 91

Total of 236complaints were filed in respect of 274

violations:

23filed with PECs

213filed with DECs


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Violations on which most

of the complaints were filed

Improperly drawn up summary protocols;

Number of invalid ballot papers do not match with the

number of voter signatures;

Correcting data in summary protocols illegally;

Improper processing of election documentation;

Voting with improper voter identification;

Casting of vote without applying/checking indelible ink;

Restricting observers rights illegally;

Presence of unauthorized persons at election precincts;

Violation of regulations for sealing election material.


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Results of Complaints in PECs and DECs

Out of 23 complaints filed with PECs:

9 complaints were satisfied

14complaints were rejectedand referred to DECs

Out of 213 complaints filed with DECs:

Satisfied - 88

Partially satisfied - 63

Rejected - 51 Left unexamined -11

Out of 3complaints filed in court 1was satisfied


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Demands made in ISFEDs Complaints

Disciplinary liability was imposed on 290members of election commissions,

including 105 PEC chairpersons.

Noticewas given in155cases as a disciplinary liability;

Warning was imposed in 86cases;

Salary was deducted in49 cases, out of which in5 cases salary was

deducted in full.

Administrative liability was imposed in 1 case;

Annulment of summary protocol was requested in 38cases, none of which

was upheld. Recount of polling results was satisfied in 8cases;

Annulment of polling results was requested in 15cases, which was satisfied

in 2cases;

In1case based on ISFEDs complaint a mobile ballot box was annulled.


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Problems/trends identified in the


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Problems/trends identified in the

complaints process for the I and II roundsof the Elections

During complaints process DECs avoided examining evidence ina comprehensive manner;

In a number of cases DEC decisions lacked appropriate

substantiation;

In a number of instances law was inconsistently applied by

DECs;

Despite gravity of violation DECs preferred to impose measuresof disciplinary liability;

DECs of Terjola and Lanchkhuti acted in an unconstructive

manner against ISFEDs observers.

R d ti


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Recommendations Election System

To start discussions for choosing election system in a timely manner; Working group on election issues should be set up within the parliament of

Georgia, in which all stakeholders will be able to submit their

recommendations and participate in the discussion.

Election Administration

Regulations for recruitment of election administration members at all levels

should be revised. New regulations should focus on recruitment based on

professional qualities;

Number of commission members should be decreased;

It should be mandatory for all commission members to have election

certificates;

More emphasis should be laid on adequate training of PEC members.


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Recommendations

Voters List

Conduct of comprehensive door-to-door campaign and use of biometric

information for preparing voter lists;

The authorities, the CEC, in view of interests of voters residing abroad,

should come up with alternative means of voting.

Gender

To increase women involvement in politics, it is important to reform the

existing legislation and introduce election system that will promote increaseof women participation;

Gender quoting regulations should be revised and discussions about

binding quotas should commence.

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Recommendations Changes to be made in the Election Code

To continue working to improve election legislation and election environment,

to improve ambiguous legal norms in the Election Code;

Initiative groups should be allowed to nominate candidates for offices of

Mayor/Gamgebeli;

Public servants participation in election campaigning must be restricted, inparticular, list of political office holders entitled to participate in election

campaign determined by the Election Code should be narrowed down;

Norms that regulate election disputes should be specified in order to prevent

election commissions from wrongfully applying these norms and leavingcomplaints unexamined;

Individual polling procedures should be simplified in order to prevent mistakes

by election commission members.


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Thank You!

Documents

Final Versuon Final Report 2014pp Eng 17102014