Georgian presidential election, 2008
Encyclopedia
A presidential election was held in Georgia
on January 5, 2008, having been brought forward by President
Mikheil Saakashvili
after the 2007 Georgian demonstrations
from the original date in autumn 2008.
A referendum
on when to hold the legislative election
was held at the same date. On November 26, 2007, the President's office announced that Georgia will simultaneously hold another referendum
on NATO membership on January 5, 2008.
Saakashvili was declared a winner with 53.4% of the votes amid the accusation of electoral fraud
by the Georgian opposition. International observers welcomed the elections as "the first genuinely competitive presidential election" in the history of Georgia, and said, albeit irregularities were observed, the polls generally met the democratic standards.
, a business oligarch
who made a fortune in Russia
, announced he would be a candidate on November 10, 2007; the government accused Patarkatsishvili of plotting a Russia-backed coup against Saakashvili. The opposition parties stated they would nominate a single candidate for the election, which would be a "big surprise" for everyone, would have a "great chance of winning the election" and that it would not be Patarkatsishvili, former Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili
or the activist Tina Khidasheli. On November 12, the opposition parties nominated MP Levan Gachechiladze
, who was at the forefront of the 2007 Georgian demonstrations
, as their common candidate for the election. The Georgian Labour Party
will support its leader Shalva Natelashvili as a candidate instead of Gachechiladze, and the New Right
nominated MP Davit Gamkrelidze as their candidate instead.
Saakashvili was nominated as his party's candidate on November 23.
Twenty-two citizens of Georgia expressed willingness to run for the January 5 early presidential elections. According to the Georgian election code each of them has to submit at least 50,000 signatures of supporters in order to be registered by the Central Election Commission as official candidates.
In total, thirteen candidates actually submitted signatures, but only seven of them were recognized by the Central Election Commission (CEC) as eligible to for presidency. These are:
In December 2007, in a poll commissioned by Saakashvili's party, the BCG company surveyed of 13,000 respondents throughout Georgia showed that 29.5% of voters were still undecided. 36.7% said they would vote for Saakashvili, followed by Gachechiladze with 9.7%; Patarkatsishvili – 4.7%; Gamkrelidze - 3%; Natelashvili – 2.5%; Maisashvili and Sarishvili had less than 1% each. One percent said they would vote for none of the candidates. The survey showed that 63.5% of those who have decided to vote for one of the candidates will vote for Saakashvili, followed by Gachechiladze and Patarkatsishvili with 16.7% and 8.1%, respectively.
According to another survey, also commission by Saakashvili's party, was overseen by the U.S. base Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research but conducted by the Georgian ACT group. This survey involved 1,500 respondents, 41% will vote for Saakashvili, followed by Gachechiladze – 11.1%; Patarkatsishvili – 6.5%; Natelashvili – 3.5%; Gamkrelidze – 2.1%; Maisashvili and Sarishvili - less than 1% each. 20.6% were undecided and 2.3% said they wouldn’t vote for any candidate. Of those who have decided to vote for one of the candidates, 64% said they would vote for Saakashvili, followed by Gachechiladze and Patarkatsishvili with 17% and 10%, respectively.
On December 23, 2007, the pro-opposition Imedi TV announced that the organization called Dialogue for Development of Democracy conducted public opinion research between December 17 and December 21. The survey showed, Imedi TV said, that 22.1% of the 2,100 surveyed would support Levan Gachechiladze, a presidential candidate backed by the nine-party opposition coalition, followed by Mikheil Saakashvili with 20.3%; Badri Patarkatsishvili (co-owner of Imedi TV) – 19.1%; Shalva Natelashvili, the leader of the Labor Party – 6.5%; Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of the New Rights Party – 4.9%; Giorgi Maisashvili, leader of Party of Future – 1.1% and Irina Sarishvili, leader of Party of Hope – 0.2%. The survey was reported to have shown that 21.7% still remain undecided. The latest survey, commissioned by the Saakashvili’s campaign from the U.S.-based Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, was published on January 3, 2008. It showed that Saakashvili had the support of 42 percent among all Georgian adults, compared to 19 percent for Levan Gachechiladze, 11 percent for Badri Patarkatsishvili, 5 percent for Shalva Natelashvili, 4 percent for David Gamkrelidze, and 1 percent for Gia Maisashvili; 2 percent would not vote or vote blank, and 16 percent are undecided. It also showed that only a minority of Georgian voters feel the presidential elections will not be free and fair.
Meanwhile, all major national television broadcasters plan to conduct their own exit polls and have commissioned seven local research groups.
In late December, Patarkatsishvili, who had pledged his financial support to the November rallies, became embroiled in a major controversy. The authorities accused him of trying to bribe an election official to claim voting fraud, released a series of audio and video recordings of the two separate meetings of the high-ranking Georgian Interior Ministry official Erekle Kodua with Patarkatsishvili and the head of his pre-election campaign Valeri Gelbakhiani. According to these materials, Patarkatsishvili was trying to bribe Kodua to take part in what the Georgian officilas described as an attempted coup d'état on January 6, 2008, the next of the scheduled presidential elections. The plan included to stage a mass manifestation against the government and to "neutralize" the Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili
. The accusations forced Patarkatsishvili onto defensive. He confirmed that he met with Kedua in London, but denied that the bribe was in connection to an alleged coup plot and claimed instead that his intention was to uncover what he said were official plans to rig the election. He also confirmed that he offered Kedua "a huge amount of money" in exchange for defecting from the authorities allegedly to avert a possible use of force by the government against the planned January rallies. On December 26, 2007, several leading journalists defected from Imedi TV, co-owned by Patarkatsishvili. Later that day, the television station’s management announced that Imedi TV temporarily suspended broadcasts until the station's "legal status in respect of ownership is not clarified." "By doing so we are distancing from dirty political games", said Giorgi Targamadze, head of the Imedi TV's political programs. The opposition politicians who were formerly allied with him also made attempts to distance for Patarkatsishvili and condemned what they described as illegal methods used by both the authorities and "other forces," apparently referring to Patarkatsishvili.
On December 28, 2007, Patarkatsishvili announced that he would withdraw his bid for presidency, but would nominally remain a candidate until January 4, 2008. On January 3, 2008, he reversed himself, however, and decided to run in presidential elections. In response, his top campaign official Giorgi Zhvania (brother of the late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania
) resigned, declaring that Patarkasishvili does not have the unquestionable reputation one would expect of a country's president.
Meanwhile, the OSCE has released two interim reports on election campaign, saying that the "legal framework [was] generally favorable to the conduct of democratic elections in Georgia, if implemented in good faith." However, they express concerns about "a highly polarized political environment" within the country's political spectrum, the allegations of use by Saakashvili of administrative resources and the lack of balance in Georgian media
.
On December 28, 2007, Saakashvili vowed to lead Georgia into NATO and to restore its territorial integrity in his second term if reelected, stating he would hand over a united Georgia to his successor after the end of his second term.
The pre-election period in Georgia was also marked with the rising tension in breakaway Abkhazia
. Early in January 2008, the Georgian media reported attacks on ethnic Georgians in the Gali district
controlled by the de facto Abkhaz administration. The reports said that the Georgians living in Abkhazia were being intimidated by local Abkhaz officials in order to prevent them from participating in Georgia's presidential election and at least seven houses owned by ethnic Georgians had been burnt down. Although Abkhaz officials rejected the accusations, the acting Georgian president Nino Burjanadze
warned that the certain attempts were being made to complicate the situation in the conflict zone on the eve of the election.
, and International Crisis Group
) observe the elections.
Early on January 5, 2008, all polling stations were opened with the exception of the highland village of Shatili
where heavy snow thwarted the process.
results were conflicting. According to a survey commissioned by 4 TV stations (Georgian Public Broadcasting
, Rustavi 2
, Mze, and Achara TV) from the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), Ilia Chavchavadze State University
and two think-tanks - the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development
(CIPDD) and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) (consulted by the Ukrainian Democratic Initiatives’ Foundation), Mikhail Saakashvili is to win with a narrow absolute majority of 53.5% of the votes, with Levan Gachechiladze coming second with 29.1%.
Turnout was 46.4%, according to the latest data. Twenty-three percent of respondents, however, refused to say for whom they had voted. The poll had a margin of error
of 2%. They also stressed that the figures were provisional, with final results not expected for another few hours.
According to an obscure and hitherto unknown Ukrainian think tank "Common European Cause", which claimed to have interviewed 10,000 people at 200 polling stations, Gachechiladze won the most votes (31%), followed by Saakashvili (24.4%) and Patarkatsishvili (20.3%).
Meanwhile, the OSCE and EU
election observers stated that the election all in all met the democratic standards, but they said that there had been problems that must be addressed. The Western observers also hailed it as "the first genuinely competitive presidential election, which enabled the Georgian people to express their political choice." In an interview to the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau
the German diplomat Dieter Boden who was an OSCE observer in Georgia was quoted to have said that the elections were massively falsificated and that there were "rude, negligent and intentional manipulations during the vote count that were detected by our observers". He spoke of a "chaotic situation" within the electoral commission. On January 10, however, representative of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights mission in Georgia, Rasto Kuzel, declared that the OSCE has not changed its generally positive evaluation of the January 5 presidential election in the country, and explained "Mr. Boden's published statements do not quite reflect what he really said, and we shall look into how that happened." He also added that "the interview was not published completely. Some definitions were cut from the interview." On January 11, Boden himself stated that "it was the result of the journalist's misinterpretation" and said the final report would be published in February 2008.
The Central Election Committee also stated the turnout was 56,17%, or 1.912.943 voters. As announced by the Central Election Committee by 20.00 (16.00 GMT), January 6, the data from 2,605 precincts (of 3,512) has been worked out. Saakashvili is in the lead with 51.95 % of the votes, and Gachechiladze is second with 25.14 %. In common Saakashvili has won in regions and
Gachechiladze in Tbilisi. According to Georgian Central Electoral Commission, as of 8 January 2007, which already included the votes from more polling stations than the earlier reports, Saakashvili was leading with 52.21%, Gachechiladze following him with only 25.26% of the votes. On 9 January 2007, with 98.8% of the ballot counted, Saakashvili had 52.21% meaning he could not fall below the 50% which would result in a run-off. However the opposition continued to protest the result, claiming vote-rigging had taken place and demanding a run-off, also asking for the resignation of the head of the CEC. Badri Patarkatsishvili
an opposition candidate was later charged with attempting to organise a terrorist attack and plotting a coup.
On January 13, 2008, most opposition parties united in a large rally in downtown Tbilisi demanding run-off of the elections.
"Election day was generally peaceful. Overall, voting was assessed positively by a large majority of IEOM observers, although it was at times disorganized and chaotic in a considerable number of precincts. Organizational and procedural shortcomings were observed, especially with regard to inconsistent application of inking procedures intended as a safeguard against multiple voting. Observers also reported a limited number of serious violations, including ballot box stuffing. The vote count and tabulation was evaluated less positively. Many PECs had problems completing the results protocols, which were often not posted for public scrutiny. IEOM observers reported cases of tampering with voter lists, results and protocols. The tabulation process at DEC level was slow and often chaotic. Some PEC protocols given to the OSCE/ODIHR EOM differed from those provided by DECs, and many PEC protocols were incomplete or inconsistent. A significant number of PECs reported unusually high turnout in the last three hours of voting, and several DECs reported a turnout considerably higher than the national average.
"Only a limited number of official complaints were filed during the pre-electoral period, almost all against the ruling party and its candidate. Although courts generally carried out open hearings in a professional and thorough manner, some complaints were ruled inadmissible without sound legal basis, and some written judgments did not set out sufficient reasoning. In addition, the CEC and courts tended to stretch the law beyond reasonable interpretation and without regard to its spirit in favour of the ruling party candidate and public officials. After election day, the election administration and the courts did not fully and adequately consider and investigate a considerable number of complaints regarding irregularities, some of which were of a serious nature. A large number of complaints were also ruled inadmissible or dismissed on technical grounds."
The Georgian Human Rights Ombudsman, Sozar Subari
, was also highly critical of the election procedures. His report stated:
"the pre-election environment was not equal and fair. This time, as usual, the alarming tendency of blurring the distinction between the presidential candidate of the ruling party and the state authority occurred, which was expressed through the direct political involvement of the different agencies (especially law enforcement agencies) of the executive branch in the electoral processes. One of the proofs of the involvement of the mentioned agencies is that the electoral headquarters of the ruling party's candidate was in reality led by the Minister of Internal Affairs, who was conducting meetings and assigning local party leaders, heads of police departments, employees of the Constitutional Security and Special Operative Departments, prosecutors, and governors with particular election-related tasks."
His report also listed other breaches of the law.
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
on January 5, 2008, having been brought forward by President
President of Georgia
The President of Georgia is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Government of Georgia. Executive power is split between the President and the Prime Minister, who is the head of government...
Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician, the third and current President of Georgia and leader of the United National Movement Party.Involved in the national politics since 1995, Saakashvili became president on 25 January 2004 after President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in a November 2003...
after the 2007 Georgian demonstrations
2007 Georgian demonstrations
The 2007 Georgian demonstrations were a series of anti-government protests in Georgia. The demonstrations peaked on November 2, 2007, when 50,000-100,000 rallied in downtown Tbilisi, capital of Georgia. People protested against the allegedly corrupt government of president Mikheil Saakashvili...
from the original date in autumn 2008.
A referendum
Georgian legislative election date referendum, 2008
A binding referendum on whether to bring forward the 2008 legislative election from October 2008 to April/May 2008 was held in Georgia on 5 January 2008, together with an early presidential election and a referendum on joining NATO....
on when to hold the legislative election
Georgian legislative election, 2008
Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on May 21, 2008. President Mikheil Saakashvili proposed a referendum on bringing them forward from October to April after the 2007 Georgian demonstrations...
was held at the same date. On November 26, 2007, the President's office announced that Georgia will simultaneously hold another referendum
Georgian NATO membership referendum, 2008
A non-binding, advisory referendum on whether to join NATO was held in Georgia on January 5, 2008, together with an early presidential election and a legislative election date referendum...
on NATO membership on January 5, 2008.
Saakashvili was declared a winner with 53.4% of the votes amid the accusation of electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
by the Georgian opposition. International observers welcomed the elections as "the first genuinely competitive presidential election" in the history of Georgia, and said, albeit irregularities were observed, the polls generally met the democratic standards.
Candidates
Badri PatarkatsishviliBadri Patarkatsishvili
Arkady "Badri" Patarkatsishvili was a wealthy Georgian businessman, who was also extensively involved in politics. He contested the 2008 Georgian presidential election and came third with 7.1% of the votes...
, a business oligarch
Business oligarch
Business oligarch is a near-synonym of the term "business magnate", borrowed by the English speaking and western media from post-Soviet parlance to describe the huge, fast-acquired wealth of some businessmen of the former Soviet republics during the privatization in Russia and other post-Soviet...
who made a fortune in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, announced he would be a candidate on November 10, 2007; the government accused Patarkatsishvili of plotting a Russia-backed coup against Saakashvili. The opposition parties stated they would nominate a single candidate for the election, which would be a "big surprise" for everyone, would have a "great chance of winning the election" and that it would not be Patarkatsishvili, former Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili
Irakli Okruashvili
Irakli Okruashvili is a Georgian politician who had served on various important posts in the Government of Georgia under President Mikheil Saakashvili, including being the Minister of Defense from December 2004 until being dismissed in November 2006.In September 2007, Okruashvili staged a...
or the activist Tina Khidasheli. On November 12, the opposition parties nominated MP Levan Gachechiladze
Levan Gachechiladze
Levan Gachechiladze is a Georgian politician and businessman who ran as the main oppositional candidate in the 5 January Georgian presidential election, 2008.-Life and family:...
, who was at the forefront of the 2007 Georgian demonstrations
2007 Georgian demonstrations
The 2007 Georgian demonstrations were a series of anti-government protests in Georgia. The demonstrations peaked on November 2, 2007, when 50,000-100,000 rallied in downtown Tbilisi, capital of Georgia. People protested against the allegedly corrupt government of president Mikheil Saakashvili...
, as their common candidate for the election. The Georgian Labour Party
Georgian Labour Party
The Georgian Labour Party is a political party in Georgia. The party is led by its founder Shalva Natelashvili.Its main goal is to make Georgia a democratic country and eventually to become a member of the European Union...
will support its leader Shalva Natelashvili as a candidate instead of Gachechiladze, and the New Right
New Right (Georgia)
The New Rights Party of Georgia , also translated as New Conservative Party is a liberal conservative party in Georgia...
nominated MP Davit Gamkrelidze as their candidate instead.
Saakashvili was nominated as his party's candidate on November 23.
Twenty-two citizens of Georgia expressed willingness to run for the January 5 early presidential elections. According to the Georgian election code each of them has to submit at least 50,000 signatures of supporters in order to be registered by the Central Election Commission as official candidates.
In total, thirteen candidates actually submitted signatures, but only seven of them were recognized by the Central Election Commission (CEC) as eligible to for presidency. These are:
- Levan GachechiladzeLevan GachechiladzeLevan Gachechiladze is a Georgian politician and businessman who ran as the main oppositional candidate in the 5 January Georgian presidential election, 2008.-Life and family:...
, nominated by the nine-party opposition coalition - Davit Gamkrelidze, leader of the New RightNew Right (Georgia)The New Rights Party of Georgia , also translated as New Conservative Party is a liberal conservative party in Georgia...
- Gia Maisashvili, leader of the Party of the Future
- Shalva Natelashvili, leader of the Georgian Labour PartyGeorgian Labour PartyThe Georgian Labour Party is a political party in Georgia. The party is led by its founder Shalva Natelashvili.Its main goal is to make Georgia a democratic country and eventually to become a member of the European Union...
- Badri PatarkatsishviliBadri PatarkatsishviliArkady "Badri" Patarkatsishvili was a wealthy Georgian businessman, who was also extensively involved in politics. He contested the 2008 Georgian presidential election and came third with 7.1% of the votes...
, a business and media tycoon - Mikheil SaakashviliMikheil SaakashviliMikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician, the third and current President of Georgia and leader of the United National Movement Party.Involved in the national politics since 1995, Saakashvili became president on 25 January 2004 after President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in a November 2003...
, the ex-president and the leader of ruling United National Movement - Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia, the only female presidential candidate and the leader of the Russian-leaning Hope Party.
Pre-election events
In the earliest pre-election poll held by the weekly Mteli Kvira in November 2007, the opposition candidate Gachechiladze defeated Saakashvili by 2% (18% to 16%).In December 2007, in a poll commissioned by Saakashvili's party, the BCG company surveyed of 13,000 respondents throughout Georgia showed that 29.5% of voters were still undecided. 36.7% said they would vote for Saakashvili, followed by Gachechiladze with 9.7%; Patarkatsishvili – 4.7%; Gamkrelidze - 3%; Natelashvili – 2.5%; Maisashvili and Sarishvili had less than 1% each. One percent said they would vote for none of the candidates. The survey showed that 63.5% of those who have decided to vote for one of the candidates will vote for Saakashvili, followed by Gachechiladze and Patarkatsishvili with 16.7% and 8.1%, respectively.
According to another survey, also commission by Saakashvili's party, was overseen by the U.S. base Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research but conducted by the Georgian ACT group. This survey involved 1,500 respondents, 41% will vote for Saakashvili, followed by Gachechiladze – 11.1%; Patarkatsishvili – 6.5%; Natelashvili – 3.5%; Gamkrelidze – 2.1%; Maisashvili and Sarishvili - less than 1% each. 20.6% were undecided and 2.3% said they wouldn’t vote for any candidate. Of those who have decided to vote for one of the candidates, 64% said they would vote for Saakashvili, followed by Gachechiladze and Patarkatsishvili with 17% and 10%, respectively.
On December 23, 2007, the pro-opposition Imedi TV announced that the organization called Dialogue for Development of Democracy conducted public opinion research between December 17 and December 21. The survey showed, Imedi TV said, that 22.1% of the 2,100 surveyed would support Levan Gachechiladze, a presidential candidate backed by the nine-party opposition coalition, followed by Mikheil Saakashvili with 20.3%; Badri Patarkatsishvili (co-owner of Imedi TV) – 19.1%; Shalva Natelashvili, the leader of the Labor Party – 6.5%; Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of the New Rights Party – 4.9%; Giorgi Maisashvili, leader of Party of Future – 1.1% and Irina Sarishvili, leader of Party of Hope – 0.2%. The survey was reported to have shown that 21.7% still remain undecided. The latest survey, commissioned by the Saakashvili’s campaign from the U.S.-based Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, was published on January 3, 2008. It showed that Saakashvili had the support of 42 percent among all Georgian adults, compared to 19 percent for Levan Gachechiladze, 11 percent for Badri Patarkatsishvili, 5 percent for Shalva Natelashvili, 4 percent for David Gamkrelidze, and 1 percent for Gia Maisashvili; 2 percent would not vote or vote blank, and 16 percent are undecided. It also showed that only a minority of Georgian voters feel the presidential elections will not be free and fair.
Meanwhile, all major national television broadcasters plan to conduct their own exit polls and have commissioned seven local research groups.
In late December, Patarkatsishvili, who had pledged his financial support to the November rallies, became embroiled in a major controversy. The authorities accused him of trying to bribe an election official to claim voting fraud, released a series of audio and video recordings of the two separate meetings of the high-ranking Georgian Interior Ministry official Erekle Kodua with Patarkatsishvili and the head of his pre-election campaign Valeri Gelbakhiani. According to these materials, Patarkatsishvili was trying to bribe Kodua to take part in what the Georgian officilas described as an attempted coup d'état on January 6, 2008, the next of the scheduled presidential elections. The plan included to stage a mass manifestation against the government and to "neutralize" the Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili
Vano Merabishvili
Ivane Merabishvili is a Georgian politician who has served as the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs since December 18, 2004...
. The accusations forced Patarkatsishvili onto defensive. He confirmed that he met with Kedua in London, but denied that the bribe was in connection to an alleged coup plot and claimed instead that his intention was to uncover what he said were official plans to rig the election. He also confirmed that he offered Kedua "a huge amount of money" in exchange for defecting from the authorities allegedly to avert a possible use of force by the government against the planned January rallies. On December 26, 2007, several leading journalists defected from Imedi TV, co-owned by Patarkatsishvili. Later that day, the television station’s management announced that Imedi TV temporarily suspended broadcasts until the station's "legal status in respect of ownership is not clarified." "By doing so we are distancing from dirty political games", said Giorgi Targamadze, head of the Imedi TV's political programs. The opposition politicians who were formerly allied with him also made attempts to distance for Patarkatsishvili and condemned what they described as illegal methods used by both the authorities and "other forces," apparently referring to Patarkatsishvili.
On December 28, 2007, Patarkatsishvili announced that he would withdraw his bid for presidency, but would nominally remain a candidate until January 4, 2008. On January 3, 2008, he reversed himself, however, and decided to run in presidential elections. In response, his top campaign official Giorgi Zhvania (brother of the late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania
Zurab Zhvania
Zurab Zhvania was a prominent Georgian politician, having served as Prime Minister of Georgia and Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia as well as Minister without Portfolio. Zhvania assumed premiership on 18 February 2004 and remained on the position until his death on 3 February 2005...
) resigned, declaring that Patarkasishvili does not have the unquestionable reputation one would expect of a country's president.
Meanwhile, the OSCE has released two interim reports on election campaign, saying that the "legal framework [was] generally favorable to the conduct of democratic elections in Georgia, if implemented in good faith." However, they express concerns about "a highly polarized political environment" within the country's political spectrum, the allegations of use by Saakashvili of administrative resources and the lack of balance in Georgian media
Georgian Media
The Media in Georgia is relatively accessible and caters to a wide variety of audiences. A large percentage of households have a television, and most have at least one radio...
.
On December 28, 2007, Saakashvili vowed to lead Georgia into NATO and to restore its territorial integrity in his second term if reelected, stating he would hand over a united Georgia to his successor after the end of his second term.
The pre-election period in Georgia was also marked with the rising tension in breakaway Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
. Early in January 2008, the Georgian media reported attacks on ethnic Georgians in the Gali district
Gali district
Gali district is a district of Abkhazia. Its capital is Gali, the town by the same name. The district is smaller than the eponymous one in the de jure subdivision of Georgia, as some of its former territory is now part of Tkvarcheli District, formed by de facto Abkhaz authorities in 1995.Gali...
controlled by the de facto Abkhaz administration. The reports said that the Georgians living in Abkhazia were being intimidated by local Abkhaz officials in order to prevent them from participating in Georgia's presidential election and at least seven houses owned by ethnic Georgians had been burnt down. Although Abkhaz officials rejected the accusations, the acting Georgian president Nino Burjanadze
Nino Burjanadze
Nino Burjanadze is a Georgian politician and lawyer who served as Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia from November 2001 to June 2008...
warned that the certain attempts were being made to complicate the situation in the conflict zone on the eve of the election.
Elections
In addition to local watchdogs, 29 international or foreign organizations (including OSCE, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of EuropeParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an...
, and International Crisis Group
International Crisis Group
The International Crisis Group is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the world through field-based analyses and high-level advocacy.-History:...
) observe the elections.
Early on January 5, 2008, all polling stations were opened with the exception of the highland village of Shatili
Shatili
Shatili is a historic highland village in Georgia, near the border with Chechnya. It is located on the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus mountains, in the historical Georgian province of Upper Khevsureti, which is now part of the modern-day region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti.-Geography:Located in...
where heavy snow thwarted the process.
Exit polls
The first exit pollExit poll
An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations. Unlike an opinion poll, which asks whom the voter plans to vote for or some similar formulation, an exit poll asks whom the voter actually voted for. A similar poll conducted before actual...
results were conflicting. According to a survey commissioned by 4 TV stations (Georgian Public Broadcasting
Georgian Public Broadcasting
Georgian Public Broadcasting is the national public broadcaster of Georgia. It started broadcasting radio in 1925, and Georgian TV started broadcasting in 1956. Today, 85% of the Georgian population receive the First Channel , and 55% receive the Second Channel...
, Rustavi 2
Rustavi 2
Rustavi 2 Broadcasting Company , better known as Rustavi 2, is the most successful private television broadcasting company in Georgia. The Rustavi, based in Tbilisi, was founded in 1994 in the town of Rustavi. It is a privately owned free to air terrestrial broadcaster that currently reaches around...
, Mze, and Achara TV) from the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), Ilia Chavchavadze State University
Ilia Chavchavadze State University
Ilia State University is an educational institute located in Tbilisi, Georgia. University was established in 2006 on the basis of Ilia Chavchavadze State University for Language and Culture and Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani State Pedagogical University...
and two think-tanks - the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development
Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development
The Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development is a Tbilisi-based think-tank, headed by prominent Georgian political scientist Ghia Nodia...
(CIPDD) and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) (consulted by the Ukrainian Democratic Initiatives’ Foundation), Mikhail Saakashvili is to win with a narrow absolute majority of 53.5% of the votes, with Levan Gachechiladze coming second with 29.1%.
Turnout was 46.4%, according to the latest data. Twenty-three percent of respondents, however, refused to say for whom they had voted. The poll had a margin of error
Margin of error
The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in a survey's results. The larger the margin of error, the less faith one should have that the poll's reported results are close to the "true" figures; that is, the figures for the whole population...
of 2%. They also stressed that the figures were provisional, with final results not expected for another few hours.
According to an obscure and hitherto unknown Ukrainian think tank "Common European Cause", which claimed to have interviewed 10,000 people at 200 polling stations, Gachechiladze won the most votes (31%), followed by Saakashvili (24.4%) and Patarkatsishvili (20.3%).
Reactions
The opposition candidates claimed the polls to be rigged and the exit-polls to be false. Supporters for Levan Gachechiladze are waiting for official results, but the candidate himself called for a January 6 meeting in Tbilisi to protect the true results of the election. On the 6th January about 7-9.000 supporters of the opposition did go to the Rike Square in Tbilisi. Opposition leaders claimed their adherents to come again on 8 January and to celebrate the victory of Levan Gachechiladze.Meanwhile, the OSCE and EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
election observers stated that the election all in all met the democratic standards, but they said that there had been problems that must be addressed. The Western observers also hailed it as "the first genuinely competitive presidential election, which enabled the Georgian people to express their political choice." In an interview to the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau
Frankfurter Rundschau
The Frankfurter Rundschau is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. It is published every day but Sunday as a city, two regional and one nationwide issues and offers an online edition as well as an e-paper...
the German diplomat Dieter Boden who was an OSCE observer in Georgia was quoted to have said that the elections were massively falsificated and that there were "rude, negligent and intentional manipulations during the vote count that were detected by our observers". He spoke of a "chaotic situation" within the electoral commission. On January 10, however, representative of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights mission in Georgia, Rasto Kuzel, declared that the OSCE has not changed its generally positive evaluation of the January 5 presidential election in the country, and explained "Mr. Boden's published statements do not quite reflect what he really said, and we shall look into how that happened." He also added that "the interview was not published completely. Some definitions were cut from the interview." On January 11, Boden himself stated that "it was the result of the journalist's misinterpretation" and said the final report would be published in February 2008.
The Central Election Committee also stated the turnout was 56,17%, or 1.912.943 voters. As announced by the Central Election Committee by 20.00 (16.00 GMT), January 6, the data from 2,605 precincts (of 3,512) has been worked out. Saakashvili is in the lead with 51.95 % of the votes, and Gachechiladze is second with 25.14 %. In common Saakashvili has won in regions and
Gachechiladze in Tbilisi. According to Georgian Central Electoral Commission, as of 8 January 2007, which already included the votes from more polling stations than the earlier reports, Saakashvili was leading with 52.21%, Gachechiladze following him with only 25.26% of the votes. On 9 January 2007, with 98.8% of the ballot counted, Saakashvili had 52.21% meaning he could not fall below the 50% which would result in a run-off. However the opposition continued to protest the result, claiming vote-rigging had taken place and demanding a run-off, also asking for the resignation of the head of the CEC. Badri Patarkatsishvili
Badri Patarkatsishvili
Arkady "Badri" Patarkatsishvili was a wealthy Georgian businessman, who was also extensively involved in politics. He contested the 2008 Georgian presidential election and came third with 7.1% of the votes...
an opposition candidate was later charged with attempting to organise a terrorist attack and plotting a coup.
On January 13, 2008, most opposition parties united in a large rally in downtown Tbilisi demanding run-off of the elections.
Conclusions of the OSCE and Georgian human rights ombudsman
In their final report the OSCE were highly critical of the conduct of the election:"Election day was generally peaceful. Overall, voting was assessed positively by a large majority of IEOM observers, although it was at times disorganized and chaotic in a considerable number of precincts. Organizational and procedural shortcomings were observed, especially with regard to inconsistent application of inking procedures intended as a safeguard against multiple voting. Observers also reported a limited number of serious violations, including ballot box stuffing. The vote count and tabulation was evaluated less positively. Many PECs had problems completing the results protocols, which were often not posted for public scrutiny. IEOM observers reported cases of tampering with voter lists, results and protocols. The tabulation process at DEC level was slow and often chaotic. Some PEC protocols given to the OSCE/ODIHR EOM differed from those provided by DECs, and many PEC protocols were incomplete or inconsistent. A significant number of PECs reported unusually high turnout in the last three hours of voting, and several DECs reported a turnout considerably higher than the national average.
"Only a limited number of official complaints were filed during the pre-electoral period, almost all against the ruling party and its candidate. Although courts generally carried out open hearings in a professional and thorough manner, some complaints were ruled inadmissible without sound legal basis, and some written judgments did not set out sufficient reasoning. In addition, the CEC and courts tended to stretch the law beyond reasonable interpretation and without regard to its spirit in favour of the ruling party candidate and public officials. After election day, the election administration and the courts did not fully and adequately consider and investigate a considerable number of complaints regarding irregularities, some of which were of a serious nature. A large number of complaints were also ruled inadmissible or dismissed on technical grounds."
The Georgian Human Rights Ombudsman, Sozar Subari
Sozar Subari
Sozar Subari is a Georgian journalist and human rights activist who served as a Public Defender of Georgia from 2004 to 2009....
, was also highly critical of the election procedures. His report stated:
"the pre-election environment was not equal and fair. This time, as usual, the alarming tendency of blurring the distinction between the presidential candidate of the ruling party and the state authority occurred, which was expressed through the direct political involvement of the different agencies (especially law enforcement agencies) of the executive branch in the electoral processes. One of the proofs of the involvement of the mentioned agencies is that the electoral headquarters of the ruling party's candidate was in reality led by the Minister of Internal Affairs, who was conducting meetings and assigning local party leaders, heads of police departments, employees of the Constitutional Security and Special Operative Departments, prosecutors, and governors with particular election-related tasks."
His report also listed other breaches of the law.
External links
- Georgian presidential election, 2008, Electoral Geography 2.0
- Georgia Vote 2008, EurasiaNet
- Elections 2008. Civil Georgia
- Central Election Commission of Georgia