Documents

On May 3, 2018, the Promo-LEX Observation Mission (OM) launched its second monitoring report on the new local elections to be held on May 20, 2018. In the report, the OM reveals several issues, related to the activities of electoral bodies, financing of electoral campaigns, as well as to the use of administrative resources by electoral contenders, or for their benefit.  Additionally, incitement to hatred and discrimination was a common practice over the monitored period.

The Promo-LEX Observation Mission (OM) of the new local elections of 20 May 2018 is a project carried out by Promo-LEX Association under the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections. Report No 1 is an interim report, the general purpose of which is to ensure the overall improvement of the electoral process in progress. According to Promo-LEX OM estimates, the potential election candidates spend at least MDL 478,890 for election activities before their registration.

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) summarizes in the present document the reasons why the work of the electoral administration in Georgia with regard to resolution of election disputes is problematic; what caused the criticism of NGOs; which decisions of the electoral administration was the most unacceptable, and the practice established by the electoral administration with its decisions, which will have a negative impact on the electoral environment in the long run.

On Election Day, EMDS recorded widespread, serious election violations that undermined voting and counting processes. This included voting without registration in 47% of polling stations, ballot-box stuffing in 53% of polling stations, and multiple voting in 53% of polling stations.  Only 8% of polling stations were free of major violations. The organization also received reports of pressure and harassment towards observers and journalists who were raising concerns about violations or attempting to monitor the counting process.

Reputable monitoring organisations did not send any missions to observe the Russian presidential election in Crimea held on the 18th of March 2018. Aiming to give domestic and international legitimacy to the election in Crimea, the Russian authorities invited, via a number of organisations, 43 foreign observers who obtained accreditation from the CEC and illegally travelled to Crimea to monitor the electoral process there.

In the preliminarily assessment of the presidential elections, “Golos” acknowledges the definite strong result of the winning candidate but regretfully declares that the movement does not recognize these elections as truly fair, i.e. fully consistent with the Constitution, the laws of the Russian Federation, and international election standards because the election results were achieved in an unfree, unequal, and uncompetitive election campaign. This fact does not allow “Golos,” therefore, to assert that the will of the voters was expressed as the result of a free election campaign.

A low level of real political competition has been a marked characteristic of the 2018 presidential election campaign in the Russian Federation. The low level of political competition has largely been caused by a significant imbalance in resources that the candidates possess. The obvious abuse of administrative resources was a catalyst for this investigation. It is devoted to examining the use of youth organizations and associations supervised by the authorities, mainly the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (“Rosmolodezh”), in the election campaign for the incumbent president and for simulating civic participation in election monitoring.