Doc. 8742
16 May 2000

Ad hoc Committee to observe the presidential elections in Georgia (9 April 2000)

Report

Bureau of the Assembly

Rapporteur: Mr Matyas Eorsi, Hungary, Liberal, Democratic and Reformers' Group

1.       Introduction

1. At the invitation of the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Mr Zurab Zhvania, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly decided to observe the Presidential elections held in that country on 9 April 2000. For Georgia this was the second election observation mission from the Parliamentary Assembly since that republic became a member of the Council of Europe in April 1999. The mission provided an opportunity for the Parliamentary Assembly to get first-hand evidence of how Tbilisi put into practice recommendations contained in the report on the observation of last year's parliamentary elections in Georgia (Doc. 8605). This election observation offered a wealth of useful information and impressions in the context of the monitoring procedure in respect of Georgia. Though the findings of the report lay no claim on being exhaustive, not least given the limited size of the ad-hoc committee and, subsequently the scope of observation, the document is designed to draw a truthful picture of the political environment surrounding the elections as witnessed by our observers

2. At the suggestion of the political groups, the Bureau set up an Ad hoc committee composed of:

• Francis AGIUS       (EPP/CD)       Malta

• Franciszek ADAMCZYK       (EPP/CD)       Poland

• Felice BESOSTRI       (SOC)       Italy

• Matyas EORSI       (LDR)       Hungary

• Daniel GOULET       (EDG)       France

• Federico Guglielmo LENTO       (UEL)       Italy

• Inge MYRVOLL       (UEL)       Norway

• Lili NABHOLZ-HAIDEGGER       (LDR)       Switzerland

• Andrzej URBANCZYK       (SOC)       Poland

3. At its meeting in Strasbourg during the April part-session, the Ad hoc Committee elected Mr Matyas Eorsi Chairman and Rapporteur on the presidential elections in Georgia.

4. The Ad hoc Committee adopted its programme, prepared in close co-operation with the Georgian Parliament, and decided on the deployment of observers. The deployment plan provided for as wide coverage of the Georgian territory as possible. It was decided that one member of the observation team should go to Ajara to observe elections in that province that maintains a certain political distance from Tbilisi. Since the vote was not held in breakaway Abkhazia, that Georgian territory was not covered by election observation. The Committee was accredited with the Georgian authorities in its own right and worked independently from other observers. The PACE delegation was the only parliamentary team to observe the elections. It maintained regular contacts with other international observers, notably from the OSCE/ODIHR, as well as NGOs, in particular, National Democratic Institute and International Society for Fair Elections, in order to co-ordinate findings.

5. Mr Dronov and Ms Kostenko provided secretarial support to the ad hoc committee.

6. The Ad hoc Committee stayed in Georgia from 7 to 11 April 2000. The detailed programme of activities is given in Appendix 1.

2.       The pre-election period

Electoral Law and Electoral Administration

7. Presidential elections in Georgia are regulated by both Presidential and Parliamentary election laws which together form the electoral legislation. Following criticism by international observers of the imperfections of the relevant legislation in the wake of last year's Parliamentary elections the legislation has been changed. Regrettably, amendments were only adopted about three weeks ahead of the Presidential elections. This caused a lot of confusion in terms of interpretation and implementation of the legislation. Furthermore, in certain instances, it appeared, amendments paid only a lip service to previous recommendations by international observers, retaining essentially the old flawed framework.

8. One of the main concerns articulated by international observers during last October's elections, was an unacceptable composition of electoral commissions at all levels which allowed the ruling party to enjoy a dominant position throughout the election administration. To accommodate these concerns, the law was amended. Altogether, 230 amendments had been tabled. As a result, four new members from the opposition parties could join the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on March 23. Members of the opposition were now also allowed to join electoral committees at the district and local levels. Formally they were now in a position to be Deputy Chair at the district and polling station level. Regrettably, this provision by and large only remained on paper. In the CEC, in all of the District Electoral Commissions (DEC) and in all polling stations an overwhelming majority was enjoyed by the ruling party. Of the more than 60 polling stations visited, very few had a Deputy Chairman from the opposition. Elsewhere, polling officials maintained either that the law did not call for this, or that the opposition did, indeed, provide its candidates for the job, but those were 'voted down' by other electoral committee members. Lack of clarity as to the procedure of getting opposition representatives to the position of deputy chairpersons of electoral commissions was largely to blame for the dismal picture observed throughout the country. To make matters worse, opposition representatives were largely marginalized by their colleagues from the ruling party had little if any role to play in the work of electoral administration.

9. One of concerns repeatedly heard during Parliamentary elections was that Article 11 of the Electoral Law provided that the resolutions of the CEC constituted “normative acts”, which meant that the CEC could change the provisions of the law by its resolutions. To remedy the situation, a new provision was introduced, whereby the electoral law could only be altered by 'normative acts' of the CEC if a two-thirds majority adopted those. Given the composition of the CEC this measure was regarded by international observers as palliative at best. Furthermore, amendments have led to a more authoritarian role of election committee chairs, which gave rise to new concerns.

10. A number of points in the Electoral Law need to be improved and this was recognised by the Chairman of the Parliament during his meeting with the Ad hoc Committee. Of particular importance was the need to enhance the transparency of the process which could be achieved through the inclusion in the electoral legislature of requirement to make public the results of the vote by posting the electoral commission protocols once the counting is over. Transparency could also be enhanced by publishing the precinct results on the web site of CEC (www.cec.gov.ge). Further, it should be allowed that complaints may be addressed to the courts directly, not via the precinct commissions only.

Supreme Court

11. The Supreme Court is made up of 42 judges. In the election context the Court has an important role to play in the settlement of eventual disputes between the CEC and the candidates for the elections. If the CEC rejects a candidate an appeal can be filed with the Supreme Court. Decisions of the Court are definitive and final. In the run-up to the election, the Court only received 10 complaints. In all cases rulings of the CEC were upheld, whereas during last year's parliamentary elections, 60 percent of the CEC decisions not changing the electoral law were reverted. The ad-hoc committee was pleased to note that thanks to the latest amendments to the electoral law the Supreme Court is now also empowered (although not obligated) to revert 'normative acts' by the CEC that run counter to the electoral law.

Candidates

12. To register as a candidate the presidential hopeful needs to collect 50 thousand signatures. On 10 March the Central Electoral Commission decided to register seven candidates. These included the incumbent, President Eduard Shevardnadze, nominated by the ruling Citizens' Union of Georgia; independent candidate Jumber Patiashvili (former communist party leader in the erstwhile Soviet Georgia), and Aslan Abashidze, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ajara who prefers to be referred to as Ajara's President, leader of the Union of Democratic revival. Other candidates are a lot less known, and it remained a mystery to this committee how some of them succeeded in collecting the required number of signatures. A further four candidates submitted their nominations but were rejected by the Central Electoral Commission for having failed to collect the minimum of fifty thousand signatures each. Two of them complained to the Supreme Court, which upheld the decision of the Central Electoral Commission. On the eve of the election, one of the front-runners, Aslan Abashidze has withdrawn from the election race without providing any explanations or giving guidance to his followers as to how to vote. The move followed a surprise visit to Ajara by the incumbent that was held a day earlier. Another presidential candidate also declared his willingness to withdraw, but his announcement came too late and his name was retained on the lists.

Election Boycott

13.       In the run-up to the election a group of opposition parties formed the Centre for Freedom and Democracy in Georgia. On 6 March 21 of those parties took a decision to boycott the elections. The National Democratic Party has instructed its followers to vote against all candidates. Given that the opposition parties in question jointly received about 12 percent of the votes during last year's Parliamentary election voter turnout became a major concern to the official Tbilisi. However on the whole the run-up to the election was peaceful and calm, not marred by any grave incidents or violence, which marked a welcome departure from the Parliamentary elections.

Media

14.       In defiance of the existing legislation and international standards the incumbent who received around two-thirds of the airtime allocated to candidates, according to the analysis of the European Institute for the Media heavily dominated coverage of the campaign in broadcast media. There was a clear bias in favour of the incumbent in terms of time, tone and range of coverage. The situation was particularly deplorable in state-owned electronic media; it was somewhat better in print media and private-owned TV and radio. By the same token, media in Ajara gave a clear preference to Ajara's leader Aslan Abashidze.

3.        Voting

15.       To ensure the maximum coverage of the elections, the Ad hoc Committee split into five teams, which allowed it to visit more than 60 polling stations in Tbilisi, and elsewhere in the country. One team, represented by Mr Goulet, had volunteered to go to Abkhazia, but since no voting was held there they chose to go to Ajara, leaving before the election day, on Saturday at 7.30 am, and returning early on Tuesday morning.

16.       The elections were not held in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and in parts of South Ossetia with ethnic Ossetian population. In South Ossetia, polling stations were only set up in the few villages inhabited by ethnic Georgians.

17.       The delegation paid a special attention to the voting in Ajara as in the past this used to be a problem region with lots of serious irregularities put to record. Senator Goulet’s subsidiary report on election observation in Ajara is reproduced in Appendix 7. It was further decided to seek to observe voting by soldiers, not least since during the Parliamentary elections no special provisions to observe military voting had been made by the Georgian authorities. Then polling stations in army barracks were not even on the consolidated list of all polling stations. Unlike previous elections it was gratifying to note that voting in Ajara was orderly and well organised, although the turnout was clearly below the national average. Military voting was orderly with easy access for international observers who did not detect any irregularities. More than a dozen military polling stations were visited.

18.       The overall peaceful and calm atmosphere in which the elections were held positively impressed observers. They also gave high marks to the Georgian authorities for providing visual aids (election guide to election officials) that were available at all polling stations visited.

19.       Nevertheless, quite a few instances of violations of the electoral process and irregularities were reported and witnessed by members of the committee, family voting being the least of our concerns.

20.       In Sagaredjo, district 11, polling station 12, where the observers arrived in time for the opening of the station, they were witness to a heated debate between the station commission Chair and an opposition representative who, referring to the newly amended law, demanded to be appointed Deputy Chairperson. That request was never granted on the grounds that, as the station commission Chair put it, 'the law does not require this' and the demand was based on a misconception. Furthermore, Chairman of the District Electoral Commission who also happened to be there insisted that the English version of the electoral law that the observers had was not an authentic text but a poor translation. Of course, for linguistic reasons, these observers were not in a position to verify what the true situation was.

21.       In Telavi (17/9) the observers were offered a different explanation as to why the polling station had no deputy Commission Chairman at all. According to the station commission Chair, there, indeed, had been a candidate for the job from the opposition, however he was voted down by commission members (no surprise, given the pro-government composition of the electoral commission).

22.       During last year's election the PACE observers reported that a common feature of a number of polling stations was the presence of uniformed police. Regrettably, the situation was no better this time around, with uniformed policemen and plainclothesmen swarming some of the polling stations. Moreover, in quite a few cases polling stations had local authorities and, possibly, secret police (referred to as 'officials from the department of information') on the list of electoral commissions. Worse still, there were quite a few cases where polling stations were located on the premises of local administration or immediately next to police stations with all that this involves. This could also be perceived as a form of pressure.

23.       A characteristic feature of the election was the omnipresence of the incumbent's campaign materials. These materials could be seen anywhere, notably in the immediate vicinity to all polling stations visited. Electoral posters of any other candidate were conspicuous by their absolute absence.

24.       The worst polling station observed was Tbilisi 38/2. Ballot papers were handed out to voters without any identity checks or examination of ID papers. Voters' registers did not contain any ID numbers of the voters; anyone could vote more than once. During vote count the Rapporteur has detected several stacks of stuffed ballots, however when he called commission Chair's attention to this the latter grabbed the stuffed papers, mixed them and threw them to the heap of other papers. He even called the police demanding that the observers be thrown out of the premises. In an interesting development it was discovered that some ballot papers bore code numbers assigned to other polling stations. More interestingly, all ballot papers at this polling station bore the same serial number, rather than individual serial numbers. Of course, this can even happen with paper money, but then this money is not very legitimate. All these facts were brought to the attention of the President -elect and Speaker of the Parliament the day following the election. The ad-hoc committee received the assurances that all these cases would be thoroughly investigated and the culprits punished. Perhaps, this was yet another case of over-zealous local electoral officials eager to lease their superiors and unwittingly doing a disservice to the nation. The delegation did not get a satisfactory explanation of the serial number puzzle. Furthermore, it was learnt that at a Central Electoral Commission meeting on the eve of the election it was disclosed that 60 thousand ballot papers were issued without serial numbers at all, just bearing '000.000'. Allegedly, these papers were issued for 'training purposes' and could only be used in the event that a polling station ran out of properly numbered papers.

Co-operation with the other international observers

25.       The committee maintained regular contacts with the OSCE resident mission to Georgia, the ODHIR election observation mission and international NGOs, including the National Democratic Institute and the International Society for Fair Elections (ISFED). Representatives of the latter asserted to this committee that their observers were denied access to many a polling station. A meeting with the diplomatic community (representing ambassadors from the Council of Europe countries) was organised at the French Embassy.

26.       The delegation held its own press conference and circulated its press release on 10 April.  Ahead of the press conference a meeting was held with the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission with a view to coordinating our respective findings. During the meeting our two teams were pleased to note that the findings of our two international observer missions were identical or close. The text of the OSCE/ODIHR is reproduced in Appendix 6.

27.       The delegation held regular informal meetings with NGO observers. Working exchanges with them proved extremely useful and informative. On the whole, NGO conclusions were similar those from our observers and those from our partners from OSCE/ODIHR, the tonality, though, being a lot harsher.

4.       Conclusions

28.       The presidential elections in Georgia were held in a generally peaceful and orderly fashion. The pre-election period was calm. Georgian authorities did account for some of recommendations tabled by international observers following last year's Parliamentary elections.

29.       There have been marked improvements in the organization of the vote in Ajara and army barracks, some training of the electoral officials has taken place.

30.       Regrettably, the elections were also characterized with extensive and serious violations. Ballot box stuffing (presumably to show a greater turnout, rather than to increse the incumbent's chances to win - he was heading for a victory by a wide margin anyway) was a common occurrence. As a result it is hard to accept the official figures of the turnout since they contradict with our own observations and those of other observers. One would get the impression that there was a concerted effort by electoral authorities to ensure that there would have been no need for a second round. As the International Society for Fair Elections has put it in its preliminary report, if Georgian authorities make no real steps in the direction of the reform 'Georgia will continue this trend toward the return of Soviet elections with 99 percent turnout'. As it were, all these immense irregularities had the net effect of offsetting the precious few long-awaited improvements noted in paras. 27 and 29 above. If Georgia were to follow a democratic path its authorities should immediately take resolute measures to prevent this grave offence from happening in the future.

31.       Legal regulations relating to campaigning and equitable media coverage should be unconditionally observed and rigorously implemented. It is expected that in future elections all contenders in Georgia will have equal and unbiased media coverage and equal airtime. It is further expected that campaign materials of all future candidates will be distributed and posted equally.

32.       Heavy police presence and other forms of pressure should be looked into, measures should be taken to foreclose these violations of electoral law in the future. In this connection, it would be helpful to improve the electoral law in terms of unambiguously defining what a polling station is. Once codified in legal instruments it would be very easy to enforce the implementation of the requirement whereby police should not be allowed on the premises.

33.       Election legislation needs to be improved in that a clear provision on campaign funding has to be introduced. The existing legislation should be uniformly interpreted and applied, for which purpose further training to electoral officials is indispensable.

34.       Transparency must be improved significantly in order to reduce the possibility of fraud and to enhance voter confidence. To this end it would be highly desirable if an amended electoral law could obligate electoral commissions to make their protocols public following the vote count.

35.       Not all recommendations of international observers have been implemented between the Parliamentary and Presidential elections. By OSCE/ODIHR account, Tbilisi implemented one-third of those recommendations, partly implemented another third and rejected yet another third. The reason could be lack of time between the two elections. Now that there is plenty of time before the next national elections it is expected that Georgia should really pay heed to comments by international observers and translate pledges to ameliorate the situation into specific and verifiable deeds. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stands open to further dialogue, cooperation and experience sharing in the interests of a democratic and prosperous Georgia.

Appendix 1

PROGRAMME

of the visit of the Ad Hoc Committee to Georgia (7 – 11 April 2000)

Friday 7 April 2000

16.55 Arrival in Tbilisi

19.00       Meeting with Ambassadors of CoE member-countries (Embassy of France)

21.15       Meeting with Mr Zurab Zhvania, Chairman of the Parliament (David Agmashenebeli Hall)

Saturday 8 April 2000

07.30        Batumi group departs for Batumi. The group will meet presidential candidate Mr Aslan Abashidze

09.00       Meeting with the Acting Head of the OSCE Mission Mr. Ivar Vikki and ODIHR representatives

10.15       Meeting with Mr. Lado Chanturia, Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia

11.15       Meeting with Mr. Irakliy Menagarishvili, Minister of Foreign Affairs

[12.00       Meeting with Mr Edouard Shevardnadze, President of Georgia and presidential candidate – CANCELLED]

[13.00       Meeting with Mr Jumber Patiashvili, presidential candidate – CANCELLED]

15.30       Meeting with Mr. Jumber Lominadze, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission

16.45       Meeting with Mr. Vazha Zhgenti, presidential candidate (at the hotel)

18.00       Meeting with Mr. Avtandil Joglidze, presidential candidate (at the hotel)

19.00       Meeting with NGOs and media representatives (at the hotel)

Sunday 9 April 2000

Monday 10 April 2000

7.30 Batumi group leaves for Tbilisi

11.30       Meeting with President Eduard Shevarnadze

14.00       Press conference

20.00       Meeting with Parliamentary Speaker Mr Zurab Zhvania

20.30       Dinner hosted by Mr Mikheil Saakachvili, Deputy Speaker of the PACE, Chairman of the Georgian Delegation to the PACE

Tuesday 11 April 2000

16.45       Depart for the airport

18.05       Depart for Vienna (or other destinations, as appropriate)

Appendix 2

Ad Hoc Committee on the Observation of Presidential Elections in Georgia

Agenda

of the meeting to be held on 3 April 2000 in Strasbourg

at 2 pm (room 9)

1. OPENING OF THE MEETING BY THE SENIOR MEMBER PRESENT

2. ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON AND DESIGNATION OF RAPPORTEUR

3. AGENDA

4. PROGRAMME AND PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS

5. DATE AND PLACE OF NEXT MEETING

Appendix 3

Observation of presidential elections in Georgia / Observation des élections présidentielles en Géorgiee (9 April 2000 / 9 avril 2000)

COMPOSITION OF THE DELEGATION / COMPOSITION DE LA DELEGATION

Felice BESOSTRI       (Soc)       Italy/Italie

Daniel GOULET       (EDG)       France/France

Federico Guglielmo LENTO       (UEL)       Italy/Italie

Inge MYRVOLL       (UEL)       Norway/Norvège

Lili NABHOLZ-HAIDEGGER (LDR)       Switzerland/ Swiss

Secretariat of the Office of the Secretary General of the Assembly / Secrétariat du Secrétaire Général de l'Assemblée

Vladimir Dronov, Secretary to the Ad Hoc Committee / Secrétaire de la Commission ad hoc 

(tél: + 33 3 88 41 27 09, fax: + 33 3 88 41 27 17)

Olga Kostenko, Co-Secretary/ Co- Secrétaire (tél: + 33 3 90 21 28 00, fax: + 33 3 88 41 27 97)

Appendix 4

Press release

Council of Europe to observe presidential elections in Georgia

STRASBOURG, 31.03.2000 – A delegation of the COUNCIL OF EUROPE Parliamentary Assembly will visit Georgia from 7 to 11 April to observe the presidential elections on 9 April.

During the visit, the delegation members will meet the presidential candidates, including the incumbent President Eduard SHEVARDNADZE, as well as Parliament Chairman Zurab ZHVANIA, Supreme Court Chairman Lado CHANTURIA, Foreign Minister Irakli MENAGARISHVILI and Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission Jumber LOMINADZE. They will also have meetings with the OSCE Mission in Georgia, the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission and ambassadors of Council of Europe member States. Meetings with NGO and media representatives are also scheduled.

On Sunday 9 April, the delegation will visit polling stations in Tbilisi and around the rest of the country, including Ajara.

A press conference is scheduled for Monday 10 April at 13h00 in the Parliament Building.

Members of the delegation:

Francis AGIUS (Malta, EPP/CD)

Franciszek ADAMCZYK (Poland, EPP/CD)

Felice BESOSTRI (Italy, SOC)

Matyas EORSI (Hungary, LDR)

Daniel GOULET (France, EDG)

Federico Guglielmo LENTO (Italy, UEL)

Inge MYRVOLL (Norway, UEL)

Lili NABHOLZ-HAIDEGGER (Switzerland, LDR)

Andrzej URBANCZYK (Poland, SOC)

Contacts

Vladimir DRONOV, Parliamentary Assembly Secretariat

Tel: +33/(0)6.85.83.05.92

Olga KOSTENKO, Parliamentary Assembly Secretariat

Tel: +33/(0)6.07.27.87.91

Appendix 5

Press release

Presidential election in Georgia : An exercise in democracy

STRASBOURG, 10.04.2000 - "The Presidential election held in Georgia on 9 April 2000 was a tiresome and, not surprisingly, difficult exercise in democracy", said Matyas EÖRSI (Hungary), Head of the COUNCIL OF EUROPE Parliamentary Assembly’s Observation Mission(1).

The delegation went to Georgia at the invitation of the Georgian Parliament to observe the presidential elections on 9 April 2000. It was pleased to note that some progress in terms of the organisation and conduct of the elections had been made in the wake of last year's Parliamentary elections that were also observed by a Council of Europe parliamentary delegation.

More than 60 polling stations were visited throughout the country. The delegation acknowledged that the short time that had elapsed following the poll on 31 October 1999 did not allow the Georgian authorities to put into law or implement the amended election law with regard to some important recommendations. Of particular concern was the imbalanced composition of the Electoral Committees and the heavy police presence at some polling stations. Another source of concern was a clear media bias, in particular in the electronic media, in favour of the incumbent President, as well as a virtual absence of campaign materials other than those posted by the ruling party.

At the same time the delegation was pleased to note that the voting was conducted in an orderly fashion, albeit marred by some instances of massive ballot staffing eyewitnessed by the delegation. Another positive development was a drastically reduced number of complaints filed by the Supreme Court in the run-up to the election.

The poll has been a vivid testimony to the need for Georgia to make further resolute steps towards a functioning democracy. It is thus essential that the country remain subject to scrutiny in the framework of the monitoring procedure activated by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

The full and speedy implementation of the recommendations will make an important part of a detailed report on this election, to be presented to the Parliamentary Assembly by the delegation later in the year, and will help expedite the country's integration into European structures.

___________________________________

Appendix 6

Appendix 7

Subsidiary report on the observation of the presidential elections in Georgia on 9 April 2000

Autonomous Republic of Ajara

presented by Mr Daniel Goulet (France)

1.       Introductory comments

2.       Observation of voting

2.1       General points

- the polling stations were located in administrative, cultural or school buildings, and no cases of polling stations located in private houses were observed;

- equipment, polling booths and ballot papers were available in sufficient quantity and the electoral lists were properly displayed;

- although this is a minor point, no family voting was noted by the observers;

- no police presence was noted, except in polling station no. 7 in district 79, where the observers noted the presence of two police vehicles. This could be explained by the fact that the polling station was located in a cultural centre that adjoined a police station, but there was no sign of police officers standing on guard outside the building.

The observers did not observe any violence or any presence of political parties.

It should be noted that the announcement of the withdrawal of the candidate Aslan Abashidze, President of the Republic [of Ajara] (late on 8 April), was clearly displayed in the polling booths and the polling station entrances.

Composition of the polling stations

Resources made available to the candidates

2.       Specific points

Large number of sick voters in polling stations in mountain regions

Examples

Polling station 35, district 83, 160 sick voters out of 1 001 registered

Polling station 17, district 80, 53 sick voters (disabled) out of 553 registered

Refugees/displaced persons from ABKHAZIA

3.       Comments and conclusion

Appendix 8

Official results of the elections

(transmitted to the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly by the Permanent Representative of Georgia to the Council of Europe

on 20 April 2000)

I.       Total number of registered voters       3 088 925

II.       Number of votes cast       2 343 176

III. Final results:

IV. The results of voting were voided in the following polling stations: