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Voter Lists |
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Past Georgian elections were notorious for invalid or fraudulent voter registration lists. What steps have been taken to correct these lists, and how effective have they been?
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A November 22, 2007 amendment to the election code allows for voters to register on-site, in polling stations. Though earlier criticized by international organizations, the measure was adopted to compensate for the short timeframe remaining for voter registration before the election. (Voters are registered at their place of residence at the time of the elections.)
Door-to-door voter registration was completed by the Central Election Commission (CEC) this fall, and is described by Archil Anasashvili, head of the CEC's legal department, as "correct to the maximum." IFES legal expert Kakha Sopromadze, however, noted that the lists "are not perfect."
Voters who cannot find their names on polling station registries may be registered on-site upon presentation of an identity document. If registration does not go through, prospective voters can appeal to the station's election commission or contact a hot line set up by the CEC (003 for landlines within Georgia; 8003 for Georgian cell phones).
A hotline run by the Ministry of Internal Affairs has also been set up to receive complaints about the election process (832-74-72-23 within Georgia), though some NGO representatives question whether the ministry should have this role.
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Ballots |
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Will paper ballots or electronic ballots be used? How will Georgians living abroad vote?
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Only paper ballots will be used in the elections; expatriate Georgians will be able to vote in consulates. In a controversial December 11 decision, however, the CEC opted not to set up polling stations for the 2,000 Georgian soldiers stationed in Iraq and Kosovo. Saakashvili supporters have charged that the decision was the result of an opposition attempt to deny the former president votes.
As of early December, the Central Election Commission was considering one ballot for the presidential vote and two for the plebiscites on parliamentary elections and NATO membership.
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Vote Clock |
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At what time does voting start on January 5 and when does it end?
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Voting starts at 8am (Tbilisi time, GMT + 3 hours) on January 5 and ends at 8pm.
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Election Commission Make-Up |
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How well does the make-up of the Central Election Commission reflect Georgia's political spectrum? And district and precinct election commissions?
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Under recent election code amendments, the Central Election Commission will be made up of 13 members -- seven existing presidential appointees, including Chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili, plus six appointees from the six opposition parties which received more than 4 percent and 3 percent of the vote in the last parliamentary and local elections (the Conservative Party, Freedom Party, Industrialists Party, New Rights Party and the Republican Party).
Precinct commissions are formed in the same way, though with six members appointed by the district election commission rather than the president.
District election commissions are made up of five individuals, without political associations, who have passed a test that certifies them as election officers. They are appointed by the CEC to the district commissions.
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Vote Monitoring |
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How will the election monitoring process be run? How many international and local observers are expected to observe the elections?
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The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will have the largest international observer mission for the January vote - 300 short-term observers, and some 28 long-term observers. Delegations from the Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia will not take part.
Thirty-six domestic election observer teams have been registered to monitor the vote. Registration for international observer teams expires on December 29, a week before the election.
International observer missions may have two representatives present in each polling station covered; local observer missions, however, only one. Media organizations may have no more than three accredited journalists in any one polling station at the same time.
By law, any non-governmental organization may take part in vote monitoring once the CEC has approved their request.
Political parties and supporter groups backing individual candidates are allowed two representatives per candidate at each election commission, two representatives in each polling station and two representatives in the Central Election Commission. Observers report suspected mistakes in voting procedure to the election commission chairperson; if not correct, the mistakes may be filed as a complaint before a local court.
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Ink Trail |
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How will "carousel" voting be prevented?
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Individuals overseeing polling station voter registration will mark voters' fingers with an indelible ink. The practice, first introduced in 2003, has been a past topic of controversy - primarily when voters refused to be marked for religious reasons. The CEC, however, states that voters who refuse to be marked will not be allowed to vote.
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Did you see something international and domestic observers might have missed?
Three of Georgia's presidential rivals were once political partners.
Eager for the latest official vote bulletins? 