Georgian Dream majoritarians win all 3 districts in by-elections
By Inga Kakulia
Tuesday, October 29
All procedures for the October 27 by-elections are complete. The elections were held at all seven polling stations in a calm environment and full compliance with the legislation, according to the Election Administration of Georgia. During the day, observer organizations and authorized representatives of election subjects had the opportunity to observe the voting, as well as vote-counting procedures.
The preliminary results of the municipal by-elections are as follows:
At the Majoritarian election district ?15.03 (Lagodekhi - 4 polling stations):
Malkhazi Melashvili from "European Georgia - Movement for Freedom" received 14.71% (347 votes)
David Beglarashvili from Movement for Free Georgia got 0.89% (21 votes)and Omar Shvelidze from Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia won by 84.4% (1991 votes)
In majoritarian election district ?38.03 (Adigeni - 1 polling station) Zurab Peikrishvili, from Georgian Dream got 100% (875 votes) and in Majoritarian election district ?65.11 (Martvili - 2 polling stations) Robert Kakulia, Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia also received 100% (549 votes)
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) observed the election process on October 27, 2019 in all constituencies, namely at 4 Lagodekhi polling stations, 2 Martvili polling stations, and 1 Adigeni polling station. According to the organization, the process of opening, polling and counting directly at the polling stations on Election Day was generally calm and organized and without major disruption, however, at all (seven) polling stations the mobilization of Georgian Dream's coordinators and activists was massive and continued the vicious tradition of registering the voters - stated the "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" (ISFED) in the final reports about the election process.
“In some cases, coordinators were registering voters at their polling stations in their cars. Tables were set up near Lagodekhi's 25th Precinct where Coordinators of the Georgian Dream registered voters through the lists before entering the polling station," reports ISFED.
ISFED believes that such actions constitute control over the will of the voter, which negatively affects the free expression of the will of the voter and may be perceived by the voter as indirect pressure. However, the practice of voter registration once again highlights the problematic environment of pressure and intimidation of voters during the pre-election period and its negative impact on the electoral process.
"Fair Elections" expresses discontent over the fact that despite providing recommendations regarding these practices in the past, these practices continue to negatively influence the election process.
Meanwhile, Irakli Kobakhidze, Member of the Georgian Dream spoke about the results and stated that the results of the by-elections show that the Georgian Dream will gain a convincing victory in the next elections.
"This result shows that we will surely win a convincing victory in the next election …The Georgian Dream won by a convincing victory, we finished the election with 85% of votes. The result shows the attitude in the society regarding the political union," said Irakli Kobakhidze.
