“Complaint Was Torn Off In Front of Me and They Threw Pieces At Me”

Elza Tsiklauri, Newspaper “Resonance”

“I had to work in a very difficult situation. There was terror and since I requested the commission members explanations for the violations, they imposed two 500 GEL fines on me; of course I will appeal against those fines,” said the observer of the Human Rights Center journalist Gela Mtivlishvili in his interview with the newspaper “Resonance”. During the municipal elections of May 30, he had to work in almost every district of Kakheti region as an observer.

What was the situation in polling stations? Why were the fine protocols drawn up on him and why were not the complaints filed? Newspaper “Resonance” asked these questions to Gela Mtivlishvili.

Gela Mtivlishvili: “I observed municipal elections as an observer of the Human Rights Center. I was in the polling stations in Gurjaani, Sighnaghi, Kvareli, Telavi and Lagodekhi districts. The most complicated situation was in Lagodekhi district, more precisely in the polling stations in Kabali village where ethnic Azeri population lives.

“Resonance”: What kind of violations did you observe?

 -The polling procedures started with blatant violations from the very beginning. For example, in Lagodekhi district the polling station # 21 in Karajala village was located in two rooms; registrars were sitting in one room, who sealed and signed the ballot papers of the voters; booths and ballot box were in the second room where the ballot papers were dropped. In this situation, observer could not monitor the process properly.

At the PS # 21, at 11:00 am an observer saw that a voter dropped several ballot papers in the box. The observer informed the commission chairperson about the violation who did not react on it and threatened the observer with fine and dismissal from the PS if he continued to interfere in the activities of the commission members. The commission members threatened every active observer with dismissal.

“Resonance”: Were you personally threatened?

-Of course I was; I also requested the reaction on the violations and after that they drew up two fine protocols on me – one in the PS # 18 and second in the PS # 21 in Lagodekhi district. At one PS I requested to stop polling procedures and annul the election results; at the second one I wrote a complaint.

After writing the complaint, the members of the District Election Commission (DEC) arrived at the PS for the consultations. The commission members did not know to read and write in Georgian language and they demanded us to write complaints in Azeri language and speak with them in Azeri language. Of course, we were not obliged to speak in foreign language because elections were carried out in Georgian language. I protested it and they drew up a fine protocol where they wrote that I demanded their explanations on violations. The commission members concluded that I interfered in their activities. Of course I will appeal against their protocols.

“Resonance”: Were other observers also threatened?

-After the fine protocol was drawn up on me, every observer was warned not to cross the two-meter distance from the registration tables. Observers could not move around the polling station; they were threatened with fining if they crossed the two-meter limit. Everybody was threatened with 500 GEL fine because nobody wanted to be fined. If anybody managed to write complaint, it was submitted only after the members of the DEC arrived at the precinct and interfered in the disagreement. For example, in Uzuntala polling station a complaint was torn off and pieces were thrown at me.

“Resonance”: “Why did not they accept your complaints; how they explained it?

-I cannot say anything. We were asking the reason but nobody explained. One more important fact is that single mandate candidate for the parliament Guram Kakalashvili visited Lagodekhi district polling stations all day long and was giving directives to the commission chairpersons. When I requested him to show the permission document to be at the PS, he left the place; however, all day long he visited various polling stations together with his zonder brigades and gave directives to the chairpersons how to resolve the situation.

“Resonance”: Did other non-governmental organizations also observe the elections?

-There were observers from the Center for Democracy and Peace Academy who turned up the members of the National Movement, the ruling party as I later found out. Thus, I had to work in a very difficult situation. There was terror and threats. Where elections were not rigged, the voters were not active. Where elections were rigged, almost 100 % of voters had arrived.

“Resonance”: How was the counting procedures carried out?

-In several polling stations, where our observers were, the votes were counted in normal environment and in accordance to the law. In several places the votes were not counted at all and before the final protocols were prepared, the commission members could not manage to reach balance. In several polling stations, particularly in the villages of ethnic Azeri population, the commission members did not count the voters; the representatives of the DEC participated in the counting process. Everything was so incorrectly done at the polling station that they could not count the votes and the representatives of the DEC assisted them.