Georgia’s Central Election Commission called on the international community “not to ignore personal assaults” on its Chair Giorgi Kalandarishvili, following parliamentary elections held last month, in the wake of an incident last week in which an opposition representative threw paint on the official.
CEC Deputy Chair Giorgi Sharabidze condemned the recent “discreditation and bullying campaign” targeting Kalandarishvili, highlighting the incident during the Commission’s session on the elections and subsequent “social media harassment” had “gone far beyond acceptable protest forms and ethics”.
"The personal attacks are nothing but proof that the authors of this campaign cannot back up their allegations [of election-rigging] with facts”, Sharabidze said.
The official stressed the election administration had “proactively sought to address all electoral allegations”, which had led them to turn to the Prosecutor’s Office to request an investigation into claims of electoral violations.
He expressed concern that “those unable to substantiate their fraud accusations with evidence” were “resorting to personal assaults and disinformation to shape public perception”.
"This comes despite the fact that international monitoring organisations have, in their preliminary reports, evaluated the election administration and its handling of the election process positively”, Sharabidze said.
He urged international partners “not to ignore the incident” and include it in their final reports, warning that failure to address the issue could “set a dangerous precedent” of interference in the work of independent election administrators.
The official stressed that if this kind of interference is allowed to stand, it could have a negative and long-lasting impact not only on the independence of election commissions in Georgia but on election commissions worldwide.
