The Center for Development and Democracy (CDD) monitored the Mid-term Election of Parliament and the Council in Martvili and Sagarejo majoritarian Electoral Districts held on 31 October 2015. Observational mission of CDD consisted of 30 accredited and trained observers, including 5 mobile teams. Observers were deployed at the precinct as well as at the district election commissions and were observing the election process, which included the opening of polling stations, the voting process, the closing of polling stations, and tabulating votes. The mission also observed the PECs formed in exceptional cases - (Sagarejo DEC №11 PEC №50 - Mukhrovani)

Generally, the election process went smoothly based on the information provided by the observational mission of CDD. At most polling stations the election was held with the procedures in accordance to the law. All the polling stations were closed on time at 20:00. Due to the comparably lower activity level of voters the polling stations ran the procedures of counting votes, tabulating election results and submitting the documents to the electoral districts on time.

On the Election Day the CDD observers reported the following procedural violations:

Polling station opening and voting procedure

• Delays in opening polling stations - 2 cases,
• Inaccuracy in the control sheet – 3 cases,
• The number of ballot papers received and declared in conflict- in 4 cases,
• Preparation of ballots in advance - 2 cases,
• Inadequate reporting in election documents - 3 cases,
• Unauthorized people presenting at the polling station – 4 cases
• Agitation at the polling station - 1 case,
• Malfunction of marking device - 1 case.
• Violation of the voting procedure for the mobile ballot box - 1 case,
• Other types of violations of voting procedures - 8 cases.

Closing of polling stations and summing up the election results

• Violation of the counting votes procedure - 5 cases,
• Improper sealing of documents - 26 cases,
• Correction in the summary protocol – 1 case,
• Improper records in the summary protocol – 7 cases,
• Conflict between the number of election ballot-papers (the sum of received and annulled ballot-papers) and the total number of voters in the final protocol – 6 cases.

While submitting the election documents by the Precinct Election Commissions (PEC) to the District Election Commission (DEC) the seal was not duly closed, which is one of the major deficiency of the electoral process and creates a threat to the validity of the election results. This was observed particularly in Sagarejo Electoral District.

The day after the election the Secretary of Sagarejo DEC refused the CDD observer to issue copies of the summary protocols of PEC and told she would only issue the requested documents based on the official letter next business day.

Facts of mobilization of the so-called "coordinators" who put records of the supporters of particular election subjects in the "Journal" nearby the polling stations were seen by the observers of the "Center for Development and Democracy". This fallacious practice was still noticeable; the latter is the way of non-direct agitation, which we see as an increasing risk of provoke and confrontation among the election subjects.

There were several facts of physical and verbal confrontations nearby the polling stations in Sagarejo, though these incidents didn’t prevent the process of voting. Regarding these facts CDD called all the participants in the election to stay calm and enable the administration to work under normal conditions to ensure the legitimate results.

Also, the incident of PEC N13 in Ujarma is worth to emphasize, which was summing up the final results of Mukhrovani’s polling station created within the exceptional circumstances. Our observer after closing the polling station stayed there, where the people with uncertain interest tried to get into the station and put the psychological pressure on the commission members. Though, the timely arrival of law enforcement officers stopped them. Such actions create a threat to election process to be held in the legitimate and peaceful environment. 

The improper performances of the members of election administration should also be noted, that was due to the lack of knowledge of the procedures. The number of the commission members who were not trained was too high (above 100). Therefore, it is important to make attendance mandatory at the trainings of PEC members. Also, it is important to limit the time of calling back the commission members by the political parties and to prolong the existing one, in order to ensure their proper preparation. The latter will decrease the number of procedural violations at the elections.

There were up to 20 incoming calls on the CDD’s hotline (790 333 111) regarding the violations of election procedures and citizens' voting rights, which were reacted locally by our observers.

Based on the information provided by the Observational Mission of the “Center for Development and Democracy” the voting process was mostly organized and held with the procedures in accordance to the law in the Electoral Districts of Sagarejo and Martvili on 31 October 2015; therefore, it was positively assessed by the Mission.