04 ნოემბერი, 2020
The opposition has sparked severe provocations at 6 different locations of Saburtalo, Gldani, Isani and Samgori districts in Tbilisi, Tskaltubo and the 3rd largest city of Batumi, where the District Election Commissions (DEC) are re-counting the votes on election protocols based on the complaints earlier submitted by the civil society observers and the political parties themselves.
The opposition leaders, among them candidates and their supporters are trying to storm the DECs in violation of law. The Central Election Commission (CEC) has made a special announcement stating that certain figures are attempting to pressure the DECs, also clarifying that only 1 registered representative of the political entity, 1 registered representative of the local election observation organization, 2 international observers accompanied by an interpreter and the accredited media representatives have the right to be present at the DEC sessions. According to the Article 8, Paragraph 15, of the Election Code of Georgia:
“A sessions of an election commission shall be open. It may be attended only by members of a superior election commission and commission representatives, staff members of a respective and superior election commissions, representatives of media accredited in the respective commission, one representative of electoral subjects in a respective commission, one observer from a domestic observer organization registered with the respective commission, no more than two observers from an international organization registered with the CEC together with an interpreter”.
“Re-counting of the votes, as such, at the DECs, has never been conducted in the history of elections in Georgia. The unprecedented process taking place at the level of DECs demonstrated the unprecedented level of openness and transparency of the election system,” said the GD Executive Secretary, Irakli Kobakhidze at the media briefing held.
The authorized persons, including the representatives from all registered opposition parties are present at the DEC sessions. Despite, knowing the legal procedure, the opposition continues to stage severe provocations in total disregard of the law.
“We urge the Public Defender and the election observers to call on political parties to immediately cease the pressure on Election Administration and refrain from abusing citizens’ right to vote,” stated the GD party list candidate, Shalva Papuashvili.
Ministry of Internal Affairs has arrested 3 persons for the administrative violations and released soon after. The act of vandalism has also been detected.
As the unrest takes place at different collation simultaneous, the opposition-commissioned media anchor, Nika Gvaramia, continuous to encourage destructive scenarios and deliberately sows in revolutionary spirit in public by referring to the provocation being “a historic event of greater importance than the Rose Revolution”.