DCM'S DECEMBER 5 MEETING WITH CENTRAL ELECTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 003051

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM GG
SUBJECT: DCM'S DECEMBER 5 MEETING WITH CENTRAL ELECTION
COMMISSION CHAIRMAN TARKHNISHVILI


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Rumor Control
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1. (U) In a December 5 meeting with DCM, Central Election
Commission (CEC) Chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili refuted rumors
that CEC short-term contract hires are going door to door to
verify voter information and ask residents for whom they will
vote. He stated emphatically that the CEC's door-to-door
campaign finished on November 4th, and that if people are
representing themselves as CEC employees, it is a
fabrication. DCM encouraged Tarkhnishvili to reiterate this
message at every opportunity, so that voters will challenge
such approaches. Tarkhnishvili said that 19 candidates were
canvassing neighborhoods collecting the necessary 50,000
signatures by December 6 deadlines. He thought that some of
the rumors could be linked to this. The CEC Chairman scoffed
at the idea that information about who is registered in a
precinct, but not currently living there could be used to
commit voter fraud. He said that the safeguards of finger
inking and double controls of ID and voter registration card,
plus the presence of over 20 registered observer
organizations totally negate this possibility.


2. (U) Tarkhnishvili was not aware that opposition
candidates claim they are being unable to lease office space
in the CEC offices regions or that NMP activists are
collecting and holding voters' ID cards until after the
election. He confirmed the CEC has regional offices, but
said the landlords have final authority to approve renters,
not the CEC. He did say the CEC has made efforts to
publicize information about available office space on the
ground floors of CEC regional office buildings.
Tarkhnishvili said that he was willing to address these
claims, but he needs specific data, not just hearsay.

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Timely Posting Of Information
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3. (U) Tarkhnishvili said the CEC plans to issue
certificates of candidacy on 14 December to all candidates
who registered on time and have the 50,000 required
signatures by 1800 on 6 December. On 17 December there will
be a public announcement of all the legally registered
candidates. He recognized the necessity of collecting and
posting voting results in a timely manner, but pointed out
that most Precinct Election Commission (PEC) did not have the
capability to send results directly to the CEC. He is
working now with NDI to purchase around 3,400 fax machines to
install this capability. The job is even more challenging
with the advent of more PECs, due to changing the precincts
from 2000 to 1500 voters. The CEC will have a large screen
its Press Center on Election Day where the results will be
posted by region to inform the press. Additionally,
Tarkhnishvili said the CEC will be able to post preliminary
results by 1500 on January 6.

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Sour Grapes in Kakheti
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4. (U) Tarkhnishvili had not heard about the incident of a
local businessman, Isako Tsipurnishvili threatening Ramaz
Samkbaradze, Director, Radio Hereti, in Lagodekhi, Kakheti.
In a recorded conversation, Tsipurnishvili warned Samkbaradze
to "stay away from cracking down on personalities" during
election coverage. Tsipurnishvili offered Samkbaradze a
bribe if he would temper his criticism of the National
Movement. Otherwise, he threatened to have Hereti's license
revoked or worse. DCM offered to send the CEC Chairman a
copy of the transcript so he can follow up on the incident.
The Public Defender's Office released a transcript of the
conversation to Channel One and Rustavi 2, and called the
National Communications Commission. As of now, Hereti is on
the air.

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G.I. Joe--Where does he go?
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5. (U) Tarkhnishvili said that there is a small legislative
hiccup with coordinating voting for military outside of
Georgia as currently there is no provision in the law for
voting by soldiers abroad. It is permissible to open a PEC
outside of Georgia for citizens living abroad if they are
registered with the Georgian Consulate in a given country.
Unfortunately, there is no consulate, for example, in Iraq.
The most likely solution is that a special PEC for military
members would be created in Iraq, but it would be directly

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linked to the CEC. According to the CEC Chairman, they have
at least two more weeks in which to address this issue.

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Morning After Blues
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6. (U) Tarkhnishvili was concerned more with the day
following the elections than Election Day itself. He worries
that political forces who do not win will claim that the
election results are false and biased. His specific concern
is that there will be a long delay between the PEC closing
and the posting of preliminary results. If before this
period was filled by parallel vote tabulation (PVT) and exit
polling, this time there will only be PVT results. He
underscored that everyone has a special responsibility to
behave responsibly and think twice about making statements
before they have all the facts.

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Election Crimes
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7. (U) Tarkhnishvili agreed to send a CEC representative to
attend the Department Of Justice (DOJ) training at the
Prosecutor's Office 13-14 December. One DOJ representative
from St. Louis and one representative from the Las Vegas
Office of the FBI will conduct the training for over 50
prosecutors on the theme of election crimes.

TEFFT