ISFED not against electronic elections if meeting international standards
By Liza Mchedlidze
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
The head of "Fair Elections" (ISFED) Nino Dolidze responded to Irakli Kobakhidze's statement about conducting elections electronically. She said that ISFED is not against elections being held electronically if all international standards and electoral principles are met.
"We are not negative if all international standards and electoral principles are respected - at this stage, the process of implementing the recommendations of the European Commission is not inclusive. Therefore, the process will have confidence only after a consensus has been reached between all political parties, and among them, the positions of civil organizations will be taken into account."
According to Nino Dolidze, technology is not the only thing that will increase trust in elections.
"Since we were not involved in this process, we do not know the legislative change in detail, we only know this statement made by Irakli Kobakhidze. ISFED's one of our recommendations was that in the future, in terms of eliminating human errors and simplifying the processes, it is possible to switch to technologies, although of course all international voting standards must be observed here. Among them, secrecy, etc. Furthermore, it is internationally recommended that the transition be phased in after it is guaranteed that there will be no technical glitches. We are not negative if all international standards and electoral principles are respected.
I think it is possible to introduce it, although how far it is at 70% is certainly a matter of judgment, and in this regard, I think it is important to have a consensus both among the political parties and among all the parties involved. You know that this process was discussed only in the working group, including where we were not civil organizations precisely because we were not allowed, and there were no opposition parties, and therefore I want to tell you that the process was not inclusive at this stage and only after that it will have a trust in the process, which consensus will be reached among all political parties and the positions of civil organizations will be considered among them.
Just switching to technology does not guarantee good elections. Technology is not the only thing that will increase trust in elections. First of all, it is very important, and this is our recommendation, and among them, it is also in the recommendations of Charles Michel, that it is important to staff the election administration.
And also, one of the important points is the continuation of the constitutional amendment, which was started in order to talk about the improvement of the election process in general," said Nino Dolidze.
The "Georgian Dream" is taking the initiative to hold elections electronically in Georgia. Party Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze made the relevant statement at a briefing held at the party's office. According to him, this decision will be one of the most important constituent parts of the election reform, which will minimize the problem of manipulation of election results.
