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POST-ELECTION UPDATE:
In an effort to mobilize the will of
the Georgian political elite to commit to free, fair and peaceful
elections, the implementing partner New Generation New Initiative (NGNI)
initiated the signing among various political parties of the
Memorandum on the Elections Free of Violence. On Election Day, the
NGNI deployed some 2000 observers across polling stations in
Georgia. Findings of the polling and tabulation procedures were
reported to the public during the day as well as at joint briefing
with other domestic observer groups at the end of the election-day.
23 MARCH 2004 UPDATE:
Similar to other election observer
groups, New Generation also continues observer training and
co-ordination meetings. A list of all observers to be deployed at
electoral precincts has been finalized. On 22 March New Generation
held a coordination meeting with other domestic election observer
groups (including FEF and ISFED). Taking into account previous cases
of intimidation and harassment of domestic election observers in
some regions of Georgia, and to address potential threats or
critical situations in a more effective manner, the participants
agreed to share contact information of their district and regional
coordinators, particularly in the regions of Ajara and Kvemo Kartli;
other prospective areas of cooperation between these groups on the
election-day and in the follow-up period were also discussed.
18 MARCH 2004 UPDATE:
On 12 March 2004, the ‘New Generation
New Initiative’, an umbrella movement consisting of several civil
society organizations, among them ‘New Generation’, conducted a gala
opening of their election observation campaign. The OSCE continues
to monitor preparation activities taking place at the central and
regional levels.
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MARCH 2004 UPDATE:
On 2 March 2004 the Agreement was signed
with the Georgian NGO ‘Generation'
(Taoba) for the implementation of a
comprehensive domestic election observation programme. The support
from the OSCE will allow Generation to field some 500 observers
while funding from USAID has provided the organisation with
resources for 1500 observers, bringing the total number of deployed
observers to 2000. Project implementation will commence in the
coming week.
11 FEBRUARY 2004 UPDATE:
Negotiations
with the Georgian NGO 'new Generation new Inistiative' (nGnI) and
IRI on the details of an agreement are ongoing.
BACKGROUND
In a political climate likely to
be tense (it is a commonplace that the Parliamentary Elections
will be much more challenged than the Presidential Elections),
it is critical that sufficient resources are allocated to
domestic election observation organizations, in particular
enabling them to allocate domestic observers to each and every
precinct throughout the country and to carry out parallel vote
tabulation. Diversification to several domestic election
observer groups will increase the chance to receive independent
and reliable information.
The aim of this project is to raise
public trust in the election process. Deploying domestic observers
throughout the country will provide an independent account of the
election results to provide a firmer basis for the possibility to
challenge the election results in court, in case of discrepancies.
It is envisaged that several
non-governmental organization will be funded to undertake domestic
observation throughout the country, thus increasing transparency
within the domestic observation structures and promoting public
confidence in the election results.
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