Georgian NGOs state pressure on their observers during elections

At least 300 violations were fixed by observers sent by NGOs to monitor the parliamentary elections in Georgia.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 8, Georgia held its parliamentary elections; the contenders were six electoral blocs and 19 parties.

The observers of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) lodged 150 written complaints and wrote over 100 comments into record books at polling stations, which cover the entire election process, Anna Natsvlishvili, President of the GYLA, said at the press conference on October 9.

The observers of the NGO "Multinational Georgia" fixed 40 violations, said Alexandra Kalatozishvili, the spokeswoman for the NGO. According to her story, the "Multinational Georgia" wrote 20 complaints to the district and constituency commissions.

Also, observation results was presented by the "Human Rights Centre", whose observers lodged 14 complaints and wrote 10 observations into record books.

About 65 various violations during voting and vote tabulation were fixed by the observers of the "Centre for Development and Democracy", said its chairman Archil Kanchaveli.

"Unfortunately, there was a fact of pressure and restriction of activities of our observer in Akhalkalaki. I want to emphasize that throughout Georgia, at special polling stations, the elections passed in a peaceful and duly organized environment," Archil Kanchaveli said at a press conference on October 9.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.