The Choice Made
According to the CEC, the preliminary results of the October 31 (as by November 1) parliamentary elections in Georgia look as follows:
1. Citizens’ Union of Georgia (CUG) - 42.22% of the votes;
2. The election bloc Revival of Georgia - 26.49%;
3. Labour Party - 6.87%
4. The election bloc Industry to Rescue Georgia - 6.80%
5. The election bloc National Democratic Alliance - Third Way - 4.59%
6. The election bloc Popular Party - Didgori - 4.20%
(votes have been calculated in 2,412 polling stations (73 constituencies); votes in about 100 polling stations have yet to be calculated). According to preliminary results, 67.59% of the voters participated in the ballot (2,882,646 voters are registered in the country). More than 30 majoritarian candidates of the CUG, including Michael Saakashvili, the leader of the CUG parliamentary group; Revaz Adamia, the chairman of the parliamentary defence and security committee; Revaz Qipiani, former deputy procurator general; George Baramidze, won elections in single constituencies. The second round of the elections will be held in 20 constituencies, including Kutaisi, Abasha and Poti. One of the most surprising results was registered in the Dusheti constituency (Mtskheta-Mtianeti region) - Shalva Natelashvili, the leader of the Labour Party and one of the majoritarian candidates there, lost the election against Mariam Molodini, activist of the CUG and the spouse of the region’s state commissioner. According to the CEC, 11,325 voters took part in the October 31 elections in 25 polling stations that operated in foreign countries. The preliminary results of the ballot there look as follows:
1. CUG - 6,197 votes
2. Revival of Georgia - 3,184
3. National Democratic Alliance - Third Way - 1,212
4. Industry to Rescue Georgia - 243
5. Popular Party - Didgori - 83
6. Labour Party - 77
"Resonance" No. 301, February 2, pp. 1, 2
"Sakartvelos Respublika" No. 297, November 2, p. 1
The Army And The Prison Favour The Ruling Party
According to preliminary information, about 1,300 defendants cast votes in special polling stations in the preventive detention wards. All of them (100%) voted in favour of the CUG. The situation in the army was similar - the overwhelming majority of the servicemen voted for the CUG. However, there were reportedly a lot of infringements in military sites - servicemen often were allowed to vote, despite the absence of their military IDs. As a result, some of them were able to vote in several polling stations.
"Akhali Taoba" No. 302, November 2, pp. 3, 6
"Alia" No. 173, November 2-3, p. 3
The Victory Of The Georgian Democracy
Commenting on the election results in his November 1 interview with the Georgian Radio, Eduard Shevardnadze claimed the elections to be the victory of the Georgian democracy. In his opinion, the CUG will get even more parliamentary seats than it had in 1995. The parliamentary majority would be "more professional" as a greater number of professional lawyers, economists and businessmen won seats in the parliament, he said. The ruling party, in Shevardnadze’s words, has always willingly co-operation with the opposition. The president admitted that members of even failed parties may be offered executive posts. Terry Davis, the head of the observer mission of the Council of Europe in the parliamentary elections and the chairman of the British national delegation in the CE Parliamentary Assembly, said despite some technical violations, the elections were obviously democratic and could be regarded as "one more step in the right direction". On the other hand, Aslan Abashidze, the Adjarian leader, said there were no elections in Georgia on October 31. He pointed to numerous infringements and restrictions imposed by the authorities on foreign observers and observers of the Revival of Georgia.
"Sakartvelos Respublika" No. 297, November 2, p. 2
"Akhali Taoba" No. 302, November 2, p. 2
The Election Infringements
Despite a great number of the complaints about infringements, Irina Sarishvili-Tchanturia, the leader of the National Democratic Party, admits that they do not affect the election results seriously. On the whole, according to the CEC, 41 formal complaints about the election infringements were submitted to the CEC. A spokesman of the Industry to Rescue Georgia highlighted frequent blackouts during the calculation of votes which may be viewed as an indirect indication of election rigging. At the same time, Merab Gamilaghdishvili of the CEC (Socialist Party) has been charged with intentions to hack into the computer network of the CEC in order to rig the election results. The Revival was reportedly going to pay him $15 thousand for this deal. According to the Procurator’s Office, law-enforcement authorities checked his attempt acting on a tip-off provided by one of the members of the Socialist Party. Vakhtang Rcheulishvili, the chairman of the Socialist Party, and other leaders of the Revival of Georgia claimed this information to be provocation. Investigation of the case is under way. If found guilty, Gamilaghdishvili may be sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment. As to other infringements, the Adjarian TV reportedly continued pre-election propaganda of the Revival of Georgia in the polling-day, though the election law bans to do so. On the whole, the election procedure in Adjaria was marked with numerous violations - in breach of law, ballot-papers there had neither special holograms nor seals. The Adjarian law-enforcement authorities did not permit observers of the NGO "Centre for Strategic Studies and Development" to enter Adjaria on October 31. Elections were actually spoiled in the Keda constituency (Adjaria) - although 90.12% of the voters reportedly took part in the ballot, the election commission revealed only 100 ballot-papers in the ballot-box - more than 10 times less than the registered number of voters in this constituency. According to Zurab Mikeladze, a majoritarian candidate of the CUG in the constituency, the ballot there looked as if prisoners of a prison camp were electing head of the camp. In his words, local law enforcement authorities openly warned voters against voting for the CUG. As to other parts of Georgia, observers emphasise that one and the same voters were often able to cast votes in various polling stations. Serious violations were registered in the Gldani district constituency of Tbilisi - Tengiz Kitovani, former defence minister and one of the majoritarian candidates in this constituency, claims that 20,000 ballot-papers (12,000 majoritarian and 8,000 proportional) were lost there. The OSCE observer mission (its 200 observers monitored the elections in 800 polling stations) registered a lot of violations in Rustavi - most frequent of them: restrictions on observers, ballot-boxes without special seals, voters voting in several polling stations. Infringements in Rustavi were reported to the CEC for almost the whole day. It is noteworthy that in the last local elections Rustavi voters obviously favoured the opposition parties. This time, however, the ruling party got a decisive majority of votes (according to preliminary results - 43.6% ).
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 250, November 1, p. 24
"Resonance" No. 300, 301; November 1, 2; pp. 1, 2, 3
"Droni" No. 129, November 1, pp. 1, 2
"Akhali Taoba" No. 301, 302, November 1, 2; pp. 2, 5
"Sakartvelos Respublika" No. 297, November 2, p. 4
"Alia" No. 173, November 2-3, p. 3
Four Years Of Good Parliamentary Life
The CUG leaders launched a press-conference in the October 31 evening. Although some forces were going to spoil the ballot, Nino Burdjanadze, the CUG political secretary said, the elections went off successfully. There was actually no serious provocations on the polling-day. The elections were monitored by a lot of foreign observers. That is why, in her opinion, the ballot, except Adjaria, must be considered fair. For his part Zurab Zhvania, the chairman of the parliament, told journalists that after the election results secured a "four-year good parliamentary life" in Georgia. In his words, despite quite a lot of infringements, the October 31 elections appeared to have been organised much better than all the previous ones.
"Akhali Taoba" No. 301, November 1, p. 3
Refugees Vote In Favour Of The Ruling Party
Despite expectations, the elections in Zugdidi (western Georgia) went off peacefully, almost without problems. It must be mentioned that most of the refugees from Abkhazia sojourn in the Zugdidi district. Reportedly, just their votes decided the outcome of the ballot - they obviously favoured the CUG.
"Resonance" No. 300, November 1, p. 3