GYLA has been monitoring the course of elections at the following election districts: Nadzaladevi N9, Samtredia N54 and Baghdati N52. As of 01:30pm, the polling process has been peaceful, election precincts opened on time and observers did not have any problems accessing election precincts.
Several procedural violations have been reported at the following election precincts:On April 27, 2013, parliamentary by-elections will be held in Nadzaladevi N9, Baghdati N52 and Samtredia N54 election districts, where voters will elect their majoritarian representatives in the Parliament of Georgia after three MPs that won their seats in the 2012 parliamentary elections left the parliament to join the executive branch.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and Transparency International – Georgia carried out monitoring of processes ahead of the April 27, 2013 parliamentary by-elections.
GYLA’s observers identified unauthorized persons who were acting as observers at Samtredia N38 and Baghdati N12 election precincts. Khoni Sakrebulo Member Levan Bobokhidze, a brother of Akaki Bobokhidze, was monitoring elections in the name of an organization New Generation Democratic Elections, while at Baghdati N12 election precinct Deputy Chairperson of Tskaltubo Sakrebulo Zaza Metreveli was monitoring elections in the name of an organization Future Choice.
Rights of journalists were restricted at Nadzaladevi election precinct N24. In particular, reporters of Rezonasi - Salome Sigua, Tamta Kakauridze and Iago Natsvlishvili were insulted verbally by observers of Civil Society and Democracy Center, a non-governmental organization, and the Caucasian Research Center, who identified themselves as representatives of the Georgian Dream. They also attempted to abuse these journalists physically.
GYLA has been monitoring the course of elections in the following election districts: Nadzaladevi N9, Samtredia N54 and Baghdati N52. Notably, the polling process was mostly peaceful and no major violations of the Election Code have been reported. At 13:30 we already updated public on the situation at election districts at that time. With this statement we would like to sum up the course of voting procedures and highlight key violations and trends reported by our observers.
The Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary responds to vetoing of two bills by the president.
Statement of the Coalition about the president’s veto.
On April 29, 2013, GYLA presented Results of Monitoring the Rehabilitation of Water Supply System of the City of Kutaisi.
GYLA’s research has revealed the following:• There is no unified project of water supply system in Kutaisi. GYLA attempted to receive the project from various administrative agencies and the Unified Water Supply Company of Georgia LLC number of times but in vain. Presumably, a unified project does not exist.
The monitoring has revealed the following:
The Parliament of Georgia is considering draft of amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, envisaging important changes that will have an essential influence on criminal proceedings and justice.
The civil society organizations highlighted the need to address certain gaps in the draft law; however, overall they welcomed the amendments. The draft of amendments adopted with the second reading is even more flawed that the initial one.
According to today’s reports, on May 1, over 15 participants of the manifestation organized by students to mark the International Workers’ Day were arrested by the police. We would like to highlight that the right to assembly and manifestation is guaranteed by the Constitution of Georgia and the European Convention of Human Rights. Everyone has the right to a peaceful assembly indoors as well as outdoors, without a prior permission. The state should not only protect the right to assembly but should refrain from placing unreasonable and indirect prohibitions on rally participants.
