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Armenia Armenian Local Elections Rescheduled And Expanded Due To Municipal Amalgamations

October 15, 2021

Armenia is holding its most important local (city council) elections in recent years this autumn, as the proportional party list system is expanding at the municipal level. A delayed municipal amalgamation process has pushed back dates but is now complete. The revised local election dates for 2021 are October 17, November 14 and December 5.

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Georgia Discussion Summary - Preliminary assessment of the first round of local elections in Georgia

October 11, 2021

During this expert discussion, experts discussed how the pre-election period was marked with high political polarization and instances of pressure and intimidation of both candidates and voters, which carried into the Election Day in the form of voters being influenced outside of polling stations. The administration of the election was generally good with some procedural violations, but lack of political will is still an issue to ensure that the legal framework is implemented in good faith.

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Georgia Preliminary statement and parallel vote tabulation

October 04, 2021

ISFED concludes that Election Day was conducted in a peaceful environment, in line with the legal requirements. However, certain trends negatively affected the electoral environment, including violation of the secrecy of the ballot, tracking of voters by unauthorized persons, voting with improper voter identification documents or without checking for ink. Procedural violations were also recorded, multiple observers’ rights were violated, and the environment outside of some polling stations was problematic.

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Russia Ongoing harassment against independent election observation

20 election experts of the movement Golos have been included into the list of “foreign agents”. The Europe-wide acting network of citizen election observers ENEMO was included into the list of “undesirable foreign organisations”. Both strikes against independent election observation demonstrate the regime’s efforts to criminalize and undermine citizens’ oversight over electoral processes in Russia.

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Georgia Discussion Summary - Assessment of the Pre-Election Environment

EPDE, together with ISFED, hosted a roundtable discussion to assess the pre-election environment in Georgia a few days prior to polling day, scheduled for October 2, 2021. The upcoming local elections have attracted more attention than any other previous municipal election ever has. There is a broad consensus that these elections will serve as a litmus test for Georgia’s democratic progress and future Euro-Atlantic orientation, and will greatly determine whether the authoritarian tendencies will be muted or averted.

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Russia Bogus International Monitors for the Bogus Russian Parliamentary Elections

With the gradual systemic decline of the democratic character of Russian presidential, parliamentary, and other elections, Vladimir Putin’s regime found it increasingly difficult to secure their international legitimacy. In an attempt to give the impression of international legitimation of the parliamentary elections, Russian authorities reportedly brought in 383 “international observers” and “experts” from 80 countries.

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Georgia Discussion Summary - Electoral Discourse Ahead of Georgia’s Local Elections

EPDE, together with ISFED, hosted a public discussion during which experts discussed the politically polarized environment, media landscape, and electoral discourse during the election campaign to the 2 October local elections. The local elections have an outsized significance with the opposition campaigning on this being a referendum on the ruling Georgian Dream party, which, according to the opposition, has left little space for political discourse about the issues that impact the daily lives of the voters.

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Georgia Second interim report local elections

ISFED presents its second interim report ahead of the 2 October local elections covering the pre-election campaign. ISFED reported several violations and noted that the dynamics of the current pre-election campaign were significantly shaken by the reveal of covert surveillance by the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) on school principals and teachers. ISFED reported on imbalances in the staffing of PECs and the growing severity of violations as well as instances of violence ahead of E-Day.

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