Early Voting Held for Georgian Troops in Afghanistan

Georgian troops in Afghanistan cast ballot during early voting for parliamentary elections, October 5, 2016. Photo: Central Election Commission

Georgia troops serving in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan were the first voters to cast ballot in parliamentary elections on October 5, three days before the polling stations will open in Georgia on Saturday.

Early voting for the Georgian troops in Afghanistan is usual practice, which was also applied in several previous elections.
 
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has not yet released information about how many ballots were cast in the early voting; CEC only released number of voters, who were eligible to cast ballot in early voting in Afghanistan – 1,604.
 
Normally number of Georgian troops in Afghanistan stands at about 860. Increased number of Georgian voters in Afghanistan was attributed to the fact that the early voting coincided with the ongoing rotation of Georgian troops in Afghanistan, according to the Ministry of Defense.
 
According to CEC and MoD, two polling stations were operating in Afghanistan during the early voting on October 5 – one at the Bagram air field for troops from the 5th infantry brigade’s 52nd battalion, and another one at the Camp Marmal in Mazar-i-Sharif for Alfa company from the 4th mechanized brigade’s 42nd battalion. A mobile ballot box was used for a company size unit, deployed in Kabul.

A farewell ceremony of troops from 32nd battalion, who were sent to Afghanistan to replace service members from the 52nd battalion, was held on October 4.

Early voting for the Georgian troops in Afghanistan was initially scheduled for October 1, but in mid-September the date was changed by the CEC to October 5.

Votes cast in Afghanistan will be counted only after polling stations will be close in Georgia on October 8.

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