Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili shielded the ruling Georgian Dream party’s highly controversial nearly 54 percent victory in the October 26 elections, denying allegations of fraud by opposition and observers. At the October 28 briefing, he accused opposition forces and civil society organizations of trying to stir unrest in the country through disinformation campaigns. “They don’t want to accept people’s will,” he said.
Edison Research Exit Polls
Papuashvili claimed that the opposition and CSOs spread disinformation against the election results and the violations. In particular, he referred to the slide, circulated in the social networks, showing the drastic discrepancy between the October 26 official results of the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Edison research exit polls, in stark contrast to the previous years’ elections. He claimed that the Edison Research exit polls, sponsored by the opposition-leaning Formula TV, had been manipulated to “undermine and discredit democratic elections.”
Edison Research polls, along with another opposition-leaning channel placed Georgian Dream at 40.9 percent (Mtavari TV-sponsored HarrisX polls GD at 42%), while giving the four opposition coalitions a combined majority. Meanwhile, the Gorbi polls, sponsored by the pro-government Imedi channel, showed a drastically different picture, with Georgian Dream receiving 56 percent of the vote. The official election results say that GD received 53.93/%
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He went on to cite the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), a key local observer, which said that its Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) figures were in line with the CEC’s figures, but added that “they cannot be used as a measure of the validation of the electoral process because fundamental violations before and on election day affected the free expression of the electorate’s will.”
The Speaker dismissed these arguments. “ISFED’s parallel vote tabulation itself confirmed that Edison Research deliberately manipulated the exit polls in an attempt to create anxiety in society and discredit the elections,” Papuashvili said, without taking into account the impact of the alleged vote manipulation on the PVT figures, which ISFED emphasized.
Electronic Technologies
Papuashvili said that concerns about vote-rigging with electronic technology are false, rereferring to the widespread allegations by the opposition and observers of duplicate voter lists, suspicions that the technology was biased in favor of the ruling party, multiple voting by one citizen, and pre-marked ballots. He denied all of them.
In this regard, he accused President Salome Zurabishvili of spreading disinformation about electronic technologies.
He said that an American company, which he did not name, had conducted a preliminary audit of the technologies. “When you are tasked with disrupting the country, you just make up all kinds of lies,” he said.
Mobile Ballot Voters
Speaker Papuashvili also rebutted concerns raised by opposition leader Nika Melia, co-chair of the Ahali party, that, the large number of people registered as mobile voters, raises question marks.
Melia said that the fact that more than 60,000 people voted in total using mobile voters was too many, citing a figure from a small town like Tsalenjikha where 700 people voted this way.
The mobile voters cast their ballots from home due to physical health problems. Several members of a commission go to their homes with the mobile ballot box. This is believed to allow for easier manipulation.
Papuashvili alleged that the number of mobile voters in previous elections was even higher than in this year’s October 26 elections, suggesting that the 60,000 mobile voters were not too many.
Violence Cases
Speaker Papuashvili downplayed election day violence, saying there were only “a few isolated incidents,” despite multiple media reports of large-scale violations from the very beginning of the opening of polling stations.
In particular, he said there were only ten cases of violence at polling stations and three cases against the media. But Papuashvili’s figures were based solely on initial media reports. While media reports suggest that the number of cases of violence was actually higher, it is also important to note that the media obviously could not cover the entire environment throughout the country, at every polling station.
Pre-Election Environment
Papuashvili also claimed that the pre-election situation was “peaceful” and “competitive,” citing the OSCE/ODIHR interim report. However, he omitted other parts of the report which talked about the problems in the pre-election environment.
The OSCE/ODIHR’s October 12 interim report on the pre-election environment in Georgia stated that “the elections take place in the context of entrenched political polarization, continued political tension, opposition distrust in state institutions and concerns about protection of the right to association and expression.”
Opposition vs People
On top of all his points, Papuashvili concluded by claiming that the opposition does not reflect the will of the people.
“They [the people] have seen that the opposition does not carry the interests of the Georgian people, but goes abroad and plans its agenda in favor of them [the foreigners],” he said, further claiming that the opposition did not have the pre-election campaign.
He said that the total number of opposition votes decreased in comparison with the previous elections, while the GD’s support increased. “Now we see their desperate campaign…the campaign of hatred,” Papuashvili said.
“I call on everyone to give up the disinformation campaign… There were democratic elections in Georgia, free elections, where the Georgian people made a verdict, and everyone should get used to this verdict,” he concluded.