Ready or Not, Georgia's Election Season Kicks Off

Central Election Commission Chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili is guaranteeing that Georgia will hold a fair and transparent presidential election on January 5. Even so, several election monitoring groups are already voicing concerns about potential problems with voter lists and with the improper use of administrative resources.

The campaign officially kicked off with the resignation of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at a special November 25 parliamentary session. Under the constitution, the president must resign from office to take part in an election campaign. Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze will serve as acting president until the elections on January 5.

Eleven candidates have so far reportedly filed to take part in the race, including, according to Georgian media reports, tycoon-turned-opposition-financer Badri Patarkatsishvili, who submitted papers on November 26 to the Central Election Commission. Prosecutors are currently investigating Patarkatsishvili for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government on November 7. In connection with the inquiry, the government has suspended the broadcasting license of a television and radio station in which Patarkatsishvili has an interest. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Aside from Saakashvili and opposition coalition candidate Levan Gachechiladze, other potential candidates include New Rights Party leader Davit Gamkrelidze, Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili, Government of the Future Party leader Giorgi Maisashvili, and political activist Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia. An additional far lesser known 16 candidates have also filed paperwork to run for president. Candidates now have ten days to collect 50,000 voter signatures to finalize their candidacies.

Even with the campaign season in its infancy, concerns have already started to surface about the election commission's preparations. On November 22, parliament approved radical changes to the election code, including about how election commissions are formed. The Central Election Commission (CEC) will gain six members – one representative from each political party that receives government financing. The same formula applies to the precinct election commissions; district commissions stay unchanged. The CEC is expected to agree this week on how the amendments will be implemented.

In addition, some observers believe voter lists could emerge as a source of contention. Voter-list discrepancies have traditionally been a sore point between the government and the opposition; election monitoring groups have expressed doubts that the lists can be verified by January 5.

In a televised cabinet session on November 24, Saakashvili warned the government to be on guard about voter lists and any hint of election fraud, saying that "Georgia's ill-wishers, including some electoral entities, will try to create an illusion" of problems with the lists.

In an interview with EurasiaNet, Tarkhnishvili, the Central Election Commission chief, expressed confidence that the lists will be ready by Election Day. Sufficient precautions will be in place, he asserted, to ensure that voter registration in polling places – as allowed by recent election code amendments – does not foster balloting irregularities.

While conceding that international organizations were "generally concerned" about Election Day registration, Tarkhnishvili claimed that those concerns were allayed once the CEC outlined its "safeguards." All registering voters must have valid identification cards from the polling precinct in which they want to vote; all voters' fingers will be inked when they cast their ballots; and all precinct polling stations can call the CEC to verify a voter's identity via an electronic database before allowing the person to cast his or her vote, he said.

Eka Siradze-Delaunay, program manager at the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy in Tbilisi (ISFED), noted, however, that voters who are living in precincts where they are not registered pose one potential snag. ISFED research shows that approximately 20 percent of all of Georgia's voters do not live where they are registered, she said. Since a recent door-to-door check of voter lists pertains only to people registered to live in polling precincts, there is a concern that many voters have fallen through the cracks.

"[W]e know that internal migration in Georgia is very high, so basically this was not addressing the people who did not live at their address [where] they were registered," she said. "These people are basically left out."

CEC Chairman Tarkhnishvili, however, counters that the issue pertains to only about 10 percent of the voting population and that such individuals can vote on Election Day if they re-register at the new address, or return to their old address. "We have freedom of movement in this country and it is the responsibility of citizens to register where they are living," he said.

Other watchdog organizations are tracking potential irregularities. Allegations have begun to surface that some state employees are being pressured to vote for Saakashvili. Tamuna Karosanidze, executive director of Transparency International Georgia, reports that the corruption watchdog group has received over 30 phone calls from people – mostly from outside Tbilisi – who complain that they are being coerced into bringing five photocopied identification cards to their employers, or face the threat of being added to a "black list."

On November 20, the issue was also raised in parliament by Guguli Magradze, a member of the National Movement Party who has occasionally sided with the opposition. In response, Parliament Speaker Burjanadze stressed that the governing party does not support any attempt to pressure voters, and called on "activists" to stop such efforts.

CEC Chairman Tarkhnishvili stressed that election officials do not hold responsibility for combating this type of crime. "If someone is photocopying something, it doesn't mean anything," he said. Tarkhnishvili noted, though, that the commission is trying to educate the public about their right to vote in secret.

Other concerns could prove similarly difficult to tackle. Transparency International's Karosanidze is looking into reports that officials are making improper use of "administrative resources" in order to promote Saakashvili's candidacy. Such misuse of power was a "very serious problem" in the country's 2006 local elections, Karosanidze claimed.

Saakashvili's November 8 meetings with business leaders, teachers and doctors -- and his promises for higher salaries and pensions, plus a time-out on a much-hated requirement for merchant cash registers -- all raise red flags. Launching projects on the eve of an election campaign that were not foreseen in the state budget is a classic case of misuse of administrative resources, Karosanidze argued.

"If something they are doing is consistent, if that was happening at the beginning of the year or last year or the year before that, of course, would not be regarded as a problem," she said. "[B]ut if you are against [abolishing] the cash registers five months before the elections, and right after the elections are announced you abolish the cash registers, it is a problem."

Tarkhnishvili reports that the CEC is monitoring the use of administrative resources, but adds that it is "difficult" to determine when a public figure is promoting the government or just merely doing his or her job. Also, drawing the line between the practical advantages of incumbency and the misuse of administrative resources can be a subjective enterprise. The CEC expects a manual for government employees on acceptable practices to be ready this month, he said.