On April 3, Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) approved amendments to regulations that tighten election-day procedures and limit media and observer access to polling station. Civil society groups, President Salome Zurabishvili, and opposition figures criticized the move as a step backward for electoral transparency and warned that the changes could make it more difficult to detect voter fraud, including the recurring problem of carousel voting.
It will be prohibited for any person with the right to be present at the polling station to demand to see or take a voter’s identification card, or to take photographs and videos of it, or to otherwise process the document, as well as the data displayed on the verification device.
Media representatives will be limited to taking photos or video at polling stations for no more than once and for no more than ten minutes, as longer coverage will only be permitted from a specific area designated by the polling station chairperson.
Photo and video recording will only be allowed from a distance of at least three meters from the subject. While the amendments allow for “unobstructed” photo and video recording when high-profile individuals – politicians and religious leaders – are voting, the decree states that the recording devices must be removed from the building after these individuals have voted.
Critics say the changes significantly reduce transparency and limit the ability of election observers to detect possible fraud. Nino Dolidze, executive director of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), il concern about the changes, stating, “Observers will no longer be able to detect people trying to vote on behalf of others (the so-called “carousel”), which is one of the main methods of electoral fraud.”
President Salome Zurabishvili also commented on the matter, arguing that the amendments “legalize” carousel voting. She said that on the one hand, the GD authorities “are extremely nervous,” and on the other, they are preparing for elections. Zurabishvili stated, “This means they [GD] know they’ll have to call [new parliamentary] elections,” adding, “But even that won’t work for them.”
Natia Mezvrishvili, a member of the opposition party For Georgia, also criticized the changes, claiming that the GD is mobilizing for the new elections by all possible means, including “pressure, corruption, and manipulation.” Mezvrishvili added that the changes ban the election observation process.
Allegations of carousel voting surfaced during the contested October 26, 2024 elections. The journalistic investigation of TV Pirveli exposed multiple cases of individuals attempting to vote on behalf of others using different identification documents. According to the report, some election workers related to the ruling GD party allegedly facilitated the fraud.
My Vote, the local observation mission that unites dozens of Georgian CSOs, called for the annulment of more than 300,000 votes in the October 26 elections after an electoral fraud scheme was uncovered. The organization pointed to various schemes, including carousel voting, as one of the problematic issues.
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