Election administration calls on local, international observer organisations to express interest in provocative conduct towards its staff members

Giorgi Sharabidze, the Deputy Chair of the Central Election Commission of Georgia, on Monday responded to the threat and pressure conducted against election administration staff members and called on local and international observer organisations to express interest in the present provocative conduct and not to leave it without proper consideration, since such behaviour damages the electoral environment.

In his remarks, Sharabidze noted that the election administration conducted its activities in accordance with legislation, and each process was open and public for stakeholders, despite that the organisation was still an object of baseless accusations and pressure.

“This time, the provocative behaviour has been conducted against the representatives of the Central Election Commission's Legal Department. One of the Political Council members of the United National Movement used slander towards our colleagues, exerted pressure and tried to showcase the real facts in a misleading way in front of the media. The mentioned prevocational incident took place yesterday during the trial at the Tbilisi City Court, involving the topic of establishing Precinct Election Commissions in the foreign countries. Moreover, the incident continued outside the Court building, in the yard following the trial process”, Sharabidze said.

“We would like to call upon both the local and international observer organisations to express interest in the present prevocational conduct and not to leave it without proper consideration, since such behaviour damages the electoral environment. When the electoral process is marred by hate speech, slander, and personal attacks against election administrators, the integrity of the elections is directly compromised”, he continued.

Sharabidze further added that “the election administration of Georgia has recently disseminated the statement along with the Public Defender, and called upon the stakeholders to display high political and civic responsibility, promote the conduct of election campaigns that is pluralistic and free from violence and hate speech”.

“Accordingly, in any such case, it is important to have a proper response, considering the prevention of such facts in the future. Importantly, we ensure that the Public Defender, observer organisations, and international partners are provided with all pertinent information”, Sharabidze noted.

“On our part, we would like to highlight that the Election Administration of Georgia will protect the dignity of each staff member and use every measure for eliminating the facts similar to the prevocational incident that happened at the Tbilisi City Court. Additionally, we would like to highlight that the election administration will keep organising its activities solely as per the legislation and ensure that the elections are conducted in compliance with international standards”, he concluded.