May, 2025 - The South Caucasus News - SouthCaucasusNews.com

Georgia’s Central Election Commission came under renewed fire after making changes to election day procedures, which critics say effectively admit that voter secrecy was violated in the October 2024 parliamentary elections.

At its April 29 meeting, the CEC decided that a special cover will be placed above the slot where ballots are inserted into the electronic device to better protect the secrecy of voters’ choices during the upcoming local elections in October.

While the CEC says the change is preventive, critics argue that it reinforces the validity of widespread concerns about ballot secrecy, raised after the 2024 general election, the first elections held with electronic voting systems.

President Salome Zurabishvili, who now heads the opposition’s Resistance Platform, said at a April 30 briefing that the CEC’s latest decision “practically admits” that the secrecy of the ballot was violated in the last elections. Irakli Kupradze of the opposition Lelo party echoed the same claim at a briefing today, May 1, saying the CEC “had to admit to a very important, very serious crime,” as he accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of using the breach to pressure voters and rig the vote.

The CEC rejected the criticism, calling it “unfounded” and saying some “interested parties” are trying to “manipulatively interpret” the new rule.

“This decision does not mean that we admit the unfounded accusations of violating the secrecy of the ballot,” the CEC said in its statement today, adding, “With this decree, the election administration has made a preventive decision to avoid [further] speculations circulating in the political agenda.”

October 2024 Elections’ Black Mark

In the October 26, 2024, elections, opposition parties and watchdogs raised alarms about a potential mass breach of ballot secrecy due to the design of the voting process. They argued that the thin paper on which voters cast their ballots made it easy to detect their choices when the ballot was inserted into the machine. Critics noted that the ruling Georgian Dream party, listed as number 41, was at the bottom of the ballot, while the main opposition parties – numbered 4, 5, 9, and 25 – were at the top or in the middle, making it easier for an external eye to identify their choices.

Photos from election day showed visible traces of ink on the backs of ballots – one from test circles and others likely from the marked party choices.

One of the opposition leaders casts a vote at the electronic counting machine. The back of the ballot shows two traces of ink, one from a test circle where voters practice, the other apparently from filling in the preferred party circle. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

The trace of marker ink, most likely from the test circle, is also discernible on the back side of President Salome Zurabishvili’s ballot paper. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), which monitored the elections, sought to have the district commissions annul the results of all electronic precincts, which covered 90 percent of polling stations. President Salome Zurabishvili also challenged the results in the Constitutional Court, citing violations of both ballot secrecy and universal suffrage. A favorable ruling would annul the results and trigger new elections. But the court – widely seen as influenced by the ruling party – refused to consider her appeal. The GYLA’s appeal also failed.

After the contested elections that handed Georgian Dream a 54% win, Georgians took to the streets. The protests gained new momentum after the ruling party’s infamous November 28 decision to abandon the country’s EU membership course. For over five months, demonstrators have been calling for new elections, though recently that demand has shown signs of shifting toward the GD government’s resignation.

Also Read: