Opposition Rejects Exit Polls Showing Saakashvili in Lead

Final exit poll results show incumbent candidate Mikheil Saakashvili taking 53.8% of the vote, followed by Levan Gachechiladze, a candidate backed by the nine-party opposition coalition, with 28.3%.

The exit polls, commissioned by four television stations, put tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili in third place with 6.2%, followed by Shalva Natelashvili with 5.6%; Davit Gamkrelidze – 3.6%; Giorgi Maisashvili – 0.9%; Irina Sarishvili – 0.4%.

28% of respondents, however, refused to reveal how they had voted, which means, according to the organizers, a margin of error of 2%.

Four television stations – the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), Rustavi 2 TV, Mze TV and Adjara TV – jointly commissioned the exit polls for the January 5 presidential election and plebiscites.

The Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), Ilia Chavchavadze State University and two think-tanks – the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD) and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) managed the exit polls. Ukrainian Democratic Initiatives Foundation acted a s a consultant.

Six local research groups – IPM, ACT, Sarke, ISSA, ISR, ARC – conducted the field work. The exit polls were carried out at 211 precincts throughout Georgia.

Meanwhile, the nine-party opposition coalition said its candidate – Levan Gachechiladze – was, according to preliminary information received from its observers from some polling stations, taking the lead in the election.

Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Salome Zurabishvili, leader of Georgia’s Way Party, said that the bloc would now wait for first official results.

“We have won the election in at least 15 polling stations. We will now wait for results from all polling stations and announce our victory on the basis of these results,” she said. “It is clear that in Tbilisi and many regions Saakashvili is losing. It is the reality. I want to remind the members of our commissions that we are entering a very important moment now. Because we are winning, a real struggle is beginning now [during the vote counting process].”

Polling stations closed at 8 pm local time for the presidential election and the plebiscites on NATO membership and the timing of the next parliamentary elections.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) said that voter turnout was 46.44% by 5pm. The CEC has still to release final voter turnout figures.

“The election was held under democratic conditions, without any major violations,” CEC spokesman Irakli Porchkhidze said at a news conference at 8:30pm local time. He did not, however, say when early results would be available.

Throughout the day, the opposition repeatedly complained of election violations, accusing the authorities of organizing what is popularly known as ‘merry-go-round’ voting, whereby an individual casts several ballots in different polling stations.

At separate press conferences, representatives of the New Rights and Labor parties and the nine-party opposition coalition claimed the authorities were ferrying supporters from one polling station to another. To deter possible multiple voting, voters are marked with a special ink at the polling stations. Tina Khidasheli from the nine-party opposition coalition, and Davit Saganelidze, Davit Gamkrelidze’s campaign manager, said that there were numerous cases when because of faulty voter marking ink detectors, it was not always possible to prevent multiple voting.

The authorities, the CEC, and the Saakashvili campaign HQ have all strongly denied the allegation. The Saakashvili campaign, however, confirmed that it had hired buses to help voters to get to polling stations.

“How voters get to polling stations – with buses or minibuses – has nothing to do with the electoral procedures inside the polling station. So our opponents should stop speculating on this issue,” Davit Bakradze, a spokesman of the Saakashvili campaign HQ, said.
By midday, local election observer organizations said that violations were mainly of a technical nature and in general the electoral process was ongoing under normal and stable conditions.

The authorities said that police had arrested a man who allegedly stuffed ballots into a ballot box at a polling station in Telavi, in the eastern region of Kakheti. It was unclear which candidate stood to gain, the police said.