TBILISI ELECTION UPDATE 12/14/07

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 003101 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM GG SUBJECT: TBILISI ELECTION UPDATE 12/14/07 REF: TBILISI 3064 Classified By: Ambassador John F. Tefft for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). -------------- ODIHR BRIEFS THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS -------------- ¶1. (C) On December 13, the OSCE/ODIHR Monitoring Team briefed the diplomatic community on its series of meetings with civil society, political parties, and government representatives. ODIHR reviewed election concerns to date with "misuse of administrative resources" being one heard frequently. ODIHR Head Boden assessed that "misuse of administrative resources" has no clear legal definition and is therefore difficult to define what constitutes a breach. (Note: In a separate meeting on December 11, MOIA Deputy Eka Zguladze claimed that the proper use of administrative resources is clearly defined by Georgian law and argued that it is on this basis that Georgia should be judged. She said that she would raise this with the ODIHR team. End note.) ¶2. (SBU) The most frequent complaints ODIHR receives deal specifically with the resources available to the former president which are not available to opposition candidates, reported instances of intimidation, and alleged dismissals and legal proceedings against participants in the November protests. Additional concerns included that election day invitation cards would not reach voters in time, that the candidates were not receiving equal media access, and that there were more people on the voters' list than eligible voters. With regard to the last item, the OSCE elections expert said this complaint is not credible as the increase in voters is due to improvements to the voters' list. ¶3. (C) Boden also reported on his first meeting with the inter-agency task force created by Acting President Burjanadze which includes MOIA Deputy Eka Zguladze, MFA Under Secretary David Dondua, and Parliamentary Chair of the SIPDIS Euro-Atlantic Integration Committee Nino Nakashidze. The task force members, who will meet with ODIHR twice weekly, expressed an interest in a close working relationship with ODIHR in an effort to address election concerns. ODIHR Head Boden told the diplomats that he welcomed cooperation with the GOG although he made clear ODIHR would maintain its independence. ¶4. (U) An ODIHR spokesman said that the team's first interim report would be released on December 19, and its second interim report on December 27. ODIHR's media monitoring report will be released the week of 17 December. -------------- Acting President Warns Governors -------------- ¶5. (C) In a December 12 meeting with the DCM, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Euro-Atlantic Integration (and Burjanadze insider) Nino Nakashidze said that the Acting President had called all the governors and told them that their jobs are on the line if elections in the region are not free and fair. -------------- Government Vouchers in Dispute -------------- ¶6. (U) Transparency International's report on Abuse of Administration resources lists the following information with regards to vouchers. According to Minister of Labor, Health, and Social Protection of Georgia Davit Tkeshelashvili all members of a family who belong to at least one of the above mentioned categories will get electricity and natural gas vouchers which means that possibly one family might receive more than one voucher of the same type. Electricity vouchers carry the words, "President's Subsidy" and the voucher for wood says "President's Gift." The report states that most of the budgetary decisions linked to gifts and vouchers are not included in the 2007 budget nor the 2008 draft budget. These are the reasons that these decisions are perceived as part of the election cable rather than a component of a consistent and long term social policy. The bulk of the actions were put into motion between Saakashvili's announcement of extraordinary Presidential elections on 5 January, and the announcement of his resignation on 25 November. - Through the Program of Presidential Gift, all families in total about 900,000) living in Georgia (except Tbilisi, Rustavi, Batumi, and Poti) are receiving one-time vouchers for five cubic meters of heating wood. The vouchers can be used until 2012. TBILISI 00003101 002 OF 002 - Though the Program of Presidential Subsidy, all families living in the regions (except those living in Rustavi, Kutaisi, Batumi and Poti) are receiving 50 kg of flour. - All persons below the poverty line, as well as pensioners and teachers are receiving 50 GEL vouchers for electricity, (in total the program covers approximately 70,000 teachers, 400,000 socially vulnerable people, and 850,000 pensioners.) Electricity vouchers can be used in January. - All persons living below the poverty line in Tbilisi as well as pensioners and teachers living in Tbilisi are receiving 50 GEL vouchers for natural gas. - Each pensioner from Tbilisi (approximately 200,000 people) is receiving a 20 GEL medical voucher. -------------- G.I. Blues--No Vote -------------- ¶7. (U) The 2,000 Georgian soldiers serving in Iraq May not be able to take part in the 5 January presidential elections. Opposition members of the Central Electoral Commission have voted against their participation, saying that there is no provision in the electoral code to hold elections in Iraq. When asked, Davit Usupashvili, Republican Party leader and member of the United Council of Opposition said that the opposition voted against the measure because the United National Movement limited restricted voting in Embassies abroad to registered nationals, which he believed unfairly limited the number of voters overseas. He also claimed that the UNM, which had been updating the electoral code through the fall could easily have included it in the final draft, which is still not published. David Bakradze, Spokesman for the United National Movement, said November 12 that the decision puts partisan politics higher than a person's constitutional right to vote. Bakradze plans to appeal the decision in court. The ODIHR monitoring team spokesman said that it is not within ODIHR's mandate to monitor elections abroad and there is a lack of clarity and incomplete information about the number of military forces and where they are posted. -------------- U.S. Election Fraud Experts Teach Prosecutors -------------- ¶8. (U) Hal Goldsmith, Department of Justice, and Mike Elliott, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),conducted a two-day seminar at the Prosecutor General's Office. Over 50 prosecutors and one representative from the Central Election Commission took part. The primary focus of the instruction was the investigation and prosecution of election fraud crimes. Elliott created the FBI's approach to election crime prosecution that is used widely in the U.S. -------------- Deal or No Deal -------------- ¶9. (C) David Usupashvili told Poloffs that the United Opposition did not accept Badri Patarkatsishvili's offer to join them in return for a position as Prime Minister in a new Opposition government. The Opposition counteroffered to Patarkatsishvili that it would support his plan to use personal funds to jump start the economy. If the Opposition were to win in the Parliamentary elections, then it would find a way to form a coalition with Patarkatsishvili if he created his own political party. Usupashvili did not know when Patarkatsishvili would return to Georgia and so far Patarkatsishvili has not responded to the Opposition's counteroffer (reftel). TEFFT