Prosecutor’s Office says most of witnesses unable to provide any evidence to investigation into alleged election fraud

The Prosecutor General's Office of Georgia on Wednesday released information on the interim results of the ongoing investigation into alleged election fraud during the October 2024 parliamentary elections.

The Office noted that up to 800 investigative and procedural actions had already been carried out at this stage, including a number of investigative experiments conducted with the participation of foreign experts within the framework of the investigation.

“We would like to provide the public with information about the current results of the ongoing investigation into the alleged fraud of the October 2024 parliamentary elections. [...]. As is known to the public, according to public statements made by representatives of [domestic] political parties and non-governmental organisations, as well as various individuals, and information provided during the questioning, the alleged massive fraud of the parliamentary elections was caused by the multiple voting of one voter at the same or different polling stations, which was facilitated by the use of poor-quality marking fluid at polling stations”, the body said.

“To study this, the investigation planned and conducted several investigative experiments with the involvement of international experts. Within the framework of the experiment, the participants created polling stations similar to real polling stations, after which an attempt was made to vote at two different polling stations by the same person. As a result of the experiment, it was established that it is impossible for the same person to vote at different polling stations with the verification devices used during the parliamentary elections. The experiment also excluded the possibility of one voter voting repeatedly and/or multiple times at the same polling station. As part of the experiment, it was also determined that if the voter list of one polling station is activated in the verification device, it is impossible to activate the data of another polling station in the same device”, the Office continued.

The Prosecutor's Office further noted that “during the investigation, investigative actions were also conducted to determine the suitability and compliance with international standards of the marking fluid used during the 2024 parliamentary elections”.

“The research conducted has determined that the marking fluid submitted for examination, when applied to the fingernail and skin, retains its luminescence (glow) when illuminated with ultraviolet rays for at least 12 hours, even after washing the hands multiple times”, the statement noted.

“In addition to the said above, all those who indicated the facts of alleged election fraud were given the opportunity to provide information or evidence in their possession regarding the facts they had voiced. It should be noted that despite their publicly stated desire to cooperate with the investigation, a large part of them refused to be questioned by the investigative body and requested to be questioned in court, and some refused to cooperate at all. It is noteworthy that during the interrogation in court, most of the witnesses were unable to provide the investigation with any evidence of any kind and their arguments were based only on unverified information provided by third persons. They appealed to the facts voiced in the media, while individual witnesses told the investigation that the statements they made about specific facts of election fraud served as a preventive measure and did not contain information based on real facts”, the body concluded.