Joint statement of civil society organizations in regard to the municipal elections
Tbilisi. Part of civil society organizations in Georgia responds to the process of the 2021 municipal elections.
“In terms of technical administration, the Election Day was conducted mostly in accordance with rules established by law. However, irregularities detected by local and international observation missions during the pre-election period, as well as in the processes of voting on the Election Day and vote counting had an unequivocally negative impact on expression of free will of voters and public confidence in the electoral process and election results. Given slight differences in numbers of ballots in some municipalities, these irregularities could affect final results.
It is unfortunate that problems related to facts of misuse of administrative resources, dismissals on political grounds, use of public servants for electoral purposes and pressure-intimidation are still topical in the context of the pre-election period and the Election Day.
Regrettably, local elections conducted with low democratic standards may cause further deepening of polarization within society”...
Source: isfed.ge
