CEC Boycotts Adjarian Voter Lists
More than 1,7 million voters have undergone voter registration, necessary for making the voter lists for the January 4 snap presidential elections. However, this number does not include the voters residing in Adjara Autonomous Republic, where the voter registration was not held.
“I am satisfied with the voter registration results. The number of registered voters shows that the turnout of voters during the registration process was high,” Chairman of the Central Election Commission Zurab Tchiaberashvili said at a news briefing o December 26.
The leadership of the Adjara Autonomous Republic rejected to conduct preliminary registration of voters, since it has not made a final decision over participation in presidential elections yet. The recent talks of Interim President Nino Burjanadze and later State Minister Zurab Zhvania with Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze yielded no results.
According to the Adjarian leadership, the polling stations are ready for holding presidential elections in the region. The CEC is also ready to supply the polling stations in Adjara with all the necessary equipment; however as Tchiaberashvili says the CEC is waiting for the political decision of the Adjarian leadership. “CEC cannot be a hostage of political tension and confrontation between Tbilisi and Batumi,” he said.
Tchiaberashvili will visit Adjara Autonomous Republic on December 29 to get acquainted with the pre-election situation in region.
Tchiaberashvili also said that CEC would not use the voter lists submitted by the Adjara Autonomous Republic, as “we can not trust these lists.”
According to the official information of the Adjarian authorities, there are over 300 thousand voters in the Autonomous Republic – the data, which cast doubts of election observer organizations, which claim that the voter lists in Adjara are over-inflated.
“On the elections day only those voters will be taken into account [in Adjara], which come to the polling stations and cast ballot,” Zurab Tchiaberashvili stated.
The voter registration process was held on December 15-25. During this period, the voter went to the polling stations and filled out the special forms. However, in the most of the villages the turnout of voters was very low, thus the members of the precinct election commissions had to go to the local population door-by-door in order to register them.
1,7 million voters is not a final figure. The Central Election Commission in cooperation with the Interior and Justice Ministries, as well as with other state agencies will make corrections in the lists and the finalized voter lists will be posted at the precincts on December 29.
The officials cannot say exactly how many voters are in Georgia. Before the fraudulent November 2 parliamentary elections authorities announced that there were around 2,6-2,7 million voters, however many political parties claimed that the voter lists were inflated in order to manipulate election results.
“The lists made as a result of the preliminary registration more precisely reflect real number of voters,” Zurab Chiaberashvili said.
The foreign observers, including the representatives of the Council of Europe, also say that the voter registration “was not an ideal” way of making the voter lists, however it was the only right decision in the current circumstances.
Those voters who failed to undergo registration and were not on the lists even after the correction of the lists can be included on the lists on the elections day. This decision casts controversy, as several political parties, which are in the opposition to the current authorities claim, that it would lead to multiple vote, or as it is known ‘merry-go-round,’ when one person casts ballot for several times in different polling stations.
However, CEC chief ruled out possibility of the multiple vote. “The voter marking procedure will be conducted throughout Georgia and it will help us to prevent so called merry-go-round,” Tchiaberashvili said.
The December 26 ruling of the Constitutional Court of Georgia paved the legal way for including the voters on the lists on the elections day.
The Constitutional Court ruled positively on the appeal of Georgian citizen Irakli Kotetishvili, as a result of which one of the paragraphs of the election code, which prohibits making of amendments to the voter lists without court ruling 10 days before the elections, was temporarily suspended.