ISFED Slams Georgian Dream Chair Over Repeated PVT Fraud Allegations

The International Society for Fair Election and Democracy (ISFED), a leading election watchdog, slammed today Georgian Dream chairperson Irakli Kobakhidze’s repeated “unfounded” allegations about deliberately rigged  Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) results as an attempt to discredit civil society organizations.

The ISFED said the ruling party chairperson utilizes a technical mistake omitted during the PVT count for political gains. It called on the Georgian Dream party to cease accusations against the watchdog and work toward defusing the political crisis in the country.

The statement comes as MP Kobakhidze asserted several times in the past few days, during the EU-mediated dialogue to end Georgia’s political stalemate, that ISFED’s PVT results of October parliamentary elections were rigged by the opposition.

ISFED released revised PVT results on December 11, on the opening day of the new Parliament, showing an increase in the GD vote share from an initially counted 45.8% to 47.6%, after an internal audit revealed that invalid votes were mistakingly included while counting party vote shares. The doubts about inaccuracy in the initial PVT results were first voiced by the MP Kobakhidze on December 9, two days before the ISFED’s official statement, claiming the opposition manipulated ISFED’s PVT data.

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