For Immediate Release

October 9, 2016
Contact: Julia Sibley
(202) 262-5885
jsibley@iri.org

Georgias Parliamentary Elections: "Mostly Peaceful and

Another Step Forward in Georgia's Democratic Journey"
Tbilisi, GeorgiaIn its preliminary report released today, the International Republican
Institute (IRI) concluded that Georgias October 8 parliamentary elections were held in a
mostly calm and peaceful environment, were well-administered, and appeared to reflect
the will of the Georgian people. The report also noted that the October 8 vote was but one
step in a process that would include a number of run-off contests, and IRI urged Georgians
to take an orderly, deliberate approach to political competition in the days following the
first round.
"In the face of political tensions at home and ever-present pressure from outside its
borders, it was encouraging to see Georgians participate in these elections, whether as
voters, candidates, party agents or election officials," said Ambassador Mark Green (ret.),
president of IRI and chairman of the Institute's international observation team. "We hope
that same approach and level of engagement will take place in the coming weeks."
IRI Long and Short-Term Observers Note Largely Well-Administered Process,
With Room for Improvement

IRI's report is based on the observations of 20 teams of short and long-term observers from
14 different countries. The Election Day observers visited more than 200 polling stations
across Georgia, in both rural and urban areas. IRIs observers also included two teams of
observers in Ukraine observing polling at the Georgian Embassy in Kyiv. Those observers
reported a calm and orderly environment.
IRIs international delegation of short-term observers was led by Ambassador Green, a
former U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania and former Member of Congress; Barry Jackson,
former assistant to President George W. Bush and Board member of the National
Endowment for Democracy; and Judy Van Rest, executive vice president of IRI and founder
of IRIs global Womens Democracy Network (WDN). The delegation also included
parliamentarians and party officials from the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Germany, Sweden
and Poland.

The short-term observers deployed to Georgia on October 5 for briefings with political
parties across the spectrum of Georgian politics, as well as government officials such as
Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and President Giorgi Margvelashvili. These teams
deployed in both rural and urban locations across Georgia, monitoring polling stations on
Election Day.

IRIs long-term observers have been on the ground in Georgia since August 1, conducting
more than 1,000 interviews and meetings with election stakeholders throughout the
country. Their areas of formal deployment included: Ajara, Samegrelo, Imereti, SamtskheJavakheti, Kvemo-Kartli and Kakheti. The observers released interim reports of their
findings in September and October.

The long-term observers found that conditions were largely in place for well-administered
and peaceful elections, but also noted the rising tensions between parties in the preelection environment, the deficit of women candidates and the dearth of sufficient
accommodations for persons with disabilities.

Responding to requests for the Institute to continue observing the conduct of the Georgian
elections as they move into their second round, Ambassador Green has pledged that IRIs
long-term observers would remain in the country until the entire election period is
completed.
"Although October 8 represented the first and most important step in these elections, we
all realize that much work and many steps will need to take place before overall elections
can be deemed a complete success," said Green. "We sincerely hope that the days ahead
will see Georgians and their political leaders acting in a calm, deliberate manner, keeping
the countrys democratic goals in mind. We believe that IRIs long-term observers can play
a constructive role in that process."
Scattered Incidents Mar Largely Peaceful Process

While the electionsand the four months of the pre-election periodwere largely
peaceful, there were several disturbing incidents. Election Day saw one major episode of
election-related violence in the Marneuli district and a smaller incident in Kutaisi. In
addition, there were two cases reported in the Samegrelo region, which resulted in
annulled results in the precincts of Jikhashkari and Ganmukhuri.

The elections were held just days after the car bombing of a Georgian member of
parliament in Tbilisi. Set against the backdrop of a legacy of distrust and rising tensions
between Georgias political parties, the attack has raised fears of more electoral violence.
With the exception of these troubling incidents, many concerns appear to have been
allayed by the mostly calm electoral process reported by IRIs delegates and other
international observers.

Needless to say," said Green, "We strongly urge the Georgian government to thoroughly
and objectively investigate the facts surrounding these incidents, bring perpetrators to
justice and take the appropriate steps to ensure that such anti-democratic actions never
reoccur.
IRI Concerned Over "Culture of Mistrust"

IRI noted that the culture of mistrust between political parties undermines Georgias
continuation on the path to democracy. During pre-election meetings with political party

officials and candidates, observation teams heard multiple accusations from all sides,
which create a level of fear and mistrust amongst party members and voters far out of line
with the teams actual observations of Election Day activities.

The actions used by leading political parties to undercut each other compromise the
political process. Tactics such as the use of administrative resources for campaign
activities; the stacking of PECs; the misuse of NGOs for party purposes; and accusations of
plans to disrupt Election Day proceedings corrodes voter confidence in the transparency of
the system and the sanctity of their vote. The continuation of these practices by the parties
risks destroying the confidence the Georgian people have placed in their democracy.
Role of Women: Some Good News, But Much Work to Be Done

IRI's report took special note of the role of Georgian women in the country's political
process. As in recent elections, nearly 70 percent of electoral commission members in these
elections were women, and women occupied some key leadership positions in the polling
stations. In addition, women served in many places as party and candidate agents. At the
same time, women were noticeably underrepresented as candidates. Only 155 of 911
majoritarian candidates in the first round were women, and women candidates comprised
1,330 of 3,592 candidates who competed in proportional contests.
IRI Delegation Co-leader Judy Van Rest, who launched IRI's global Women's Democracy
Network more than a decade ago, noted, "Georgian women play an irreplaceable role in the
conduct of the electoral process. Imagine the transformative effect they could have if they
are even more involved in leadership roles in parties and in government. This should be an
important priority going forward."
Imperfect, but Improved Election Procedures and Administration

In its long-term observer reports, IRI noted the concerns of some election stakeholders
regarding the methods for selecting Precinct Election Commission (PEC) members.
However, short-term observers found limited evidence to support claims of bias in the
conduct of commission members on election day. The majority of PECs observed were
fully-staffed, well-trained and executed their procedures effectively, with IRI observers
reporting that 95 percent of the precinct commissioners had a good knowledge of their
duties and responsibilities, and 95 percent of the commissions observed procedures
correctly. Polling stations have continued to demonstrate improvements since previous
elections.

There were reports of campaign materials present in some polling stations in violation of
the electoral law, but these appear to be isolated incidents. In some locations, party agents
and candidate agents exceeded their authority in ways that include the intimidation of
commission members, resulting in disruptions to the counting process. IRI observers noted
that some polling election facilities were too small in size to accommodate the number of
voters and observers, leading to bottlenecks and making it difficult at times for
commissioners to perform their duties efficiently.

One notable exception to the efficient administration of the elections was the counting and
tabulation process. Voters expect and deserve accurate and timely results after casting
their ballots. This is hindered by inefficiencies in the counting of ballots within the PECs,
non-transparent and slow reporting of results by the Central Election Commission (CEC),
and exit surveys tainted by assumptions of bias, and in some cases falling short of
professional standards.
Persons with Disabilities: Much Work Remains to be Done

IRIs delegates noted that 71 percent of polling stations they observed on Election Day
were not fully accessible to persons with disabilities. This finding is consistent with the
initial reports of IRIs long-term observers. Going forward, Georgia needs to take significant
steps to create an inclusive environment in which citizens with disabilities are able to
exercise their constitutional right to vote.
Policy Recommendations

Many observers noted that the polling facilities were too small to allow for the
efficient processing of registration and voting. The CEC should undertake a review
of the types of facilities available for use by PECs.
The CEC must take steps to provide better accommodation for the needs of disabled
and aged voters, with the objective of providing 100 percent access to polling
stations.
The CEC needs to enhance procedures for the tabulation of ballots in polling stations
in order to improve efficiency, transparency and to shorten the time involved in the
counting of votes.
The Georgian parliament needs to thoroughly investigate and take appropriate
actions to strengthen laws prohibiting the abuse of administrative resources during
the pre-election period.
The CEC should create expanded enforceable boundaries around polling places to
prevent voter intimidation and congestion in voting areas.
IRI Short-Term Observation Mission Delegates

Delegation Chairman: Ambassador Mark Green, President, IRI

Judy Van Rest, Executive Vice President, IRI
Barry Jackson, Managing Director, The Lindsey Group; Strategic Advisor, Brownstein
Hyatt Farber Schreck
Victor Ashe, Chair, U.S. Conference of Mayors; Former United States Ambassador to
Poland
Graham Evans, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
Eva Gustavsson, Managing Director of the Jarl Hjalmarsson Foundation; International
Director of the Swedish Moderate Party
Mariia Ionova, Member of Parliament, Ukraine
James Kirchick, Fellow, Foreign Policy Initiative
4

Agnieska (Aga) Pomaska, Member of Parliament, Poland

Phillip Hansen, Head of Political Unit, ALDE Party, Germany

Team 1: Samegrelo (Zugdidi)

Roger Bryant
Gabriele Cekuole

IRI Long-Term Observers

Team 2: Ajara & Guria (Batumi)

Milan Kuksa
Jessica Nash
Team 3: Imereti (Kutaisi)
Marko Logar
Sonia Mickevicius

Team 4: Samtskhe-Javakheti (Akhaltsikhe)

Rachel Santos
Slawomir Szyska
Team 5: Kvemo Kartli (Rustavi)
Lora Bulat
Zoran Ilievski
Team 6: Kakheti (Telavi)
Matteo Bezzi
Jeremy Pine

IRI Senior Staff

Stephen Nix, IRI Regional Director, Eurasia

Andrea Keerbs, IRI Resident Country Director, Georgia

IRI in Georgia
IRI has worked in Georgia since 1999, supporting the development of a multi-party
political system and helping parties to build their regional party structures. The team
works under the leadership of Resident Country Director Andrea Keerbs and IRI Regional
Director for Eurasia Stephen Nix.

Using reputable, methodologically-sound public opinion polling, IRI works with all the
major parties to develop more positive, issue-based platforms and campaigns. IRI helps to
strengthen electoral processes by conducting international election observation
missionsmost recently for the 2012 parliamentary and 2013 presidential elections, and
assessment missions for both rounds of the 2014 local elections.

Under the terms of a Cooperative Agreement with the United States Agency for International

Developments (USAID) Office of Democracy and Governance, IRI deployed six teams of longterm and 14 teams of short-term observers to monitor and report on the pre-election
environment and Election Day activities in population centers across Georgia. The teams are
responsible for cataloging complaints regarding voter intimidation, voter list errors, and
other election-related irregularities on Election Day, and verifying the claims when possible.
Special thanks: IRI wishes to thank USAID for its support in this observation mission,
as well as in our ongoing work in Georgia. Additionally, we wish to thank the U.S.
Embassy in Tbilisi for its assistance, both in election day preparations and
throughout the period of IRIs work in Georgia. IRI also thanks the Hjalmarsson
Foundation for its contribution.