IN BORDER PROVINCE, ELECTION’S IMPACT IS FINANCIAL
A EurasiaNet Photo Essay by Giga Chikhladze: 11/07/03

In the poor province of Lagodekhi, Georgia’s parliamentary election had an immediate impact. There a trip to the polls meant a rare chance for income.

A nature preserve on Lagodheki’s edge meets similar preserves in Azerbaijan and Dagestan. For dozens of miles around the regional center, one can see virgin land and far-off mountains. Sometimes, one can hear the echo of bombs from Chechnya, to the northwest.

1500 of Lagodheki’s 7000 residents earned pay during the election campaign. Nearly 500 election monitors, party backers and journalists arrived before the election. They needed drivers, hoteliers, or housekeepers. On the eve of election and shortly afterwards, shops sold more goods than they normally do in a month. As these photos show, this is a community built on agriculture and campaigning made for big news.

While many Georgians protested tampering with ballot boxes and results, many here approved of the election. "Previous elections were marred with much more violations and fraud," says Giorgi Mamuka, a former election commissioner from Lagodekhi. "They had not even attempted to hide anything: late in the evening police came, and, with election commission members present, poured lots of ballots filled out in favor of the government into the ballot-boxes."

Not that this vote represented pure idealism. Some profited from the disorder. "I was campaigning for the New Rights, compensated by Labor, and cast a ballot for the Nationalists," says Mamuka, with a grin. In just a few days, he managed to earn 60 dollars.

This election was reportedly free of violence, though discrepancies in voter lists barred many citizens from the polls. Some complained of long lines and other problems. See photo seven.

"Voters were stealing pens," complains Nanuli Giorgobani, election commission member at precinct 1. "During the day they had stolen 50 pens, and citizens were unable to fill out the ballot-papers. We had to borrow pens from observers, until a box of pens was brought from a shop."

Many aged voters from villages came without identification papers. One 87-year-old man from Laliani village asked a commission member with wide-eyed astonishment: "Have you forgotten my name? You are my neighbor, you must know me."

And voters of all rages reacted skeptically to the prospect of having their thumbs marked, a new authentication step. [See related story]. "What if this liquid will make me a zombie?" asked Liana, from Kabali village. "Or maybe I will have some allergy." Others worried that the fluorescent marking would not sit well with the local priest.

Authorities posted a special notice for the religious saying that marking is safe for both physical and mental health. Ilia II, the Georgian Orthodox Church Patriarch, signed the document. Still, a few voters, like Davit from Lagodekhi, called the signature a forgery and declined to vote rather than accept the marking.

Many in Lagodekhi voted for Mikhail Saakashvili's reformist New National Movement. Several voters perceived Saakashvili as a veiled ally of President Eduard Shevardnadze, or viewed the entire government as hopeless.

The Lagodekhi region encloses 63 villages and 30 000 voters of 25 ethnic groups. Generally, minorities live together in ethnic communities. The bulk of the minorities’ voters cast their ballots for the pro-government bloc, For a New Georgia.

While Shevardnadze is unpopular, his local candidate, former Deputy Minister of State Security Lasha Natsvlishvili, was born in Lagodheki. He and area boss Isako Tskipurishvili, who ran independently, were the only native candidates and thus the only ones to attract attention.

Natsvlishvili did his best to capitalize. Before the election, his money helped the local television station resume broadcasting after months of darkness, funded some road repairs, and paid for a free movie theatre, which became a regional attraction.
Officially, all the capital investments came from friends of Natsvlishvili. Despite the reputation of state officials for corruption, Natsvlishvili insists he has behaved ethically.

"I never took any money, and I will never do such a thing in the future," he says. "All that I could do for Lagodekhi, I will do either being in parliament or with the help of my friends among businessmen."

Tskipurishvili, who seems uncomfortable in a suit and tie, called the vote rigged after he appeared set to finish second. "Ministry on Internal Affairs officials... cut off electricity in my campaign headquarters," he said. "Police placed some drugs in the pockets of my election campaign chief and put him under arrest. They are doing everything to prevent me from being elected."

Editor’s Note: Giga Chikhladze is an independent journalist based in Tbilisi.

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Posted November 7, 2003 © Eurasianet
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