The district court in Georgia annulled the results of parliamentary elections at 30 polling stations for violating voting secrecy, as reported by the Georgian service of Radio Liberty on November 5, according to the “Adyrna” national portal.
The court restored the voting conditions in three randomly selected polling stations in the Tetritskaro and Tsalka regions in southern Georgia by examining their ballots. The experiment revealed that a marker mark on the back of the ballot paper, indicating the party, was visible. This meant that when the ballot was inserted into the KOIB (voting machine), people nearby could see whom the voter had voted for.
The Central Election Commission of Georgia has the right to appeal the district court’s decision, though experts note that a precedent has already been set. Complaints about the breach of voting secrecy were filed by Georgia’s Young Lawyers’ Association, which demanded the annulment of election results at more than 2,000 polling stations. Courts in Tbilisi and other cities, however, rejected these complaints.
The Western sociological institute Edison Research concluded that the election results in Georgia were manipulated. According to sociologists, the 13 percent discrepancy between exit polls and official results indicates fraud. Edison Research data suggested that “Georgian Dream” should have received 40.9 percent, while opposition parties should have received 51.9 percent of the vote.
The ruling “Georgian Dream” party officially won the parliamentary elections with 53.9 percent of the vote. Four other opposition parties surpassed the five percent threshold, but all refused to acknowledge the election results and to enter parliament. The opposition is holding mass protests.
