GEORGIA: UNM STRONG IN ADJARA ELECTIONS, DESPITE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 002073 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM GG SUBJECT: GEORGIA: UNM STRONG IN ADJARA ELECTIONS, DESPITE ANNULLMENTS REF: TBILISI 2018 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Kent D. Logsdon for reasons 1.4 ( b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) Begin Summary: Extremely low turnout marked by-elections in two Tbilisi districts held on November 3 to fill two vacant seats that opposition parties refused to fill after the May elections. The Christian-Democratic Movement (CDM) candidate won the Vake seat. In Didube, the National Democratic Party (NDP) won its first Parliamentary seat in a decade. In elections in Adjara for the 18-seat Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, the ruing United National Movement (UNM) won a landslide victory taking 78.8 percent of the vote. The CDM also passed the 5 percent threshold with 14.7 percent. Turnout in Adjara was just under 45 percent. Due to allegations of manipulating the results of the vote after the polls had closed (presumably to increase turnout numbers),the Supreme Election Council of Adjara annulled the results of the entire District of Khelvachauri and ten precincts in the Shuakhevi and Khulo regions. In Khelvachauri, repeat proportional elections will be held on November 16, and the majoritarian race will be re-run on December 14. Embassy Tbilisi provided three election observation teams in Adjara and three in Tbilisi. The UK Embassy, supplemented by individuals from local international organizations, sponsored 11 teams in Adjara, and noted some serious problems, that seemed to indicate that local and regional officials manipulated election results in an effort to increase turnout percentages. The Council of Europe also observed. Despite their calls for new parliamentary elections, most non-Parliamentary opposition parties boycotted this round. End summary. ¶2. (C) Comment: In both Tbilisi and Adjara PECs, the Embassy's observation teams noted much-improved election-day processes and administration in all election districts in comparison with January presidential and May parliamentary elections. It appeared that the Central Election Commission (CEC) and IFES have made significant progress in training election officials. In addition, CEC Chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili told Poloff that the CEC, and by association the government, had made strong statements to local leaders to run the election in a transparent and fair manner. Despite these messages, it appears in several districts that tradition trumped instruction, as local officials attempted to manipulate results after the polls closed. The government quickly announced it would annul results in several areas where fraud was high, including the entire district of Khelvachauri. The IRI Chief of Party told Poloff that the chairman of the Khelvachauri district election commission would be removed. If the government's investigation of complaints is transparent and transgressors are punished, this would be a first for the government, and a strong display of accountability. End comment. LOW TURNOUT IN TBILISI ¶3. (U) The low turnout and results in Tbilisi were largely as expected (reftel),except for the NDP's surprisingly-strong win in Didube. In Didube, turnout was slightly better than expected at 11.4 percent. Guram Chakhvadze, the National Democratic Party (NDP),conducted a serious election campaign. He worked closely with the International Republican Institute on his campaign strategy. This paid off, as his win, with 5272 votes, gave his party its first Parliamentary seat in a decade. Natela Mikiashvili of QParliamentary seat in a decade. Natela Mikiashvili of "Kartuli Dasi," garnered only 1413 votes and Jemal Natelashvili of the Radical Democrats received 724 votes. CDM candidate Tamaz Kvachantiradze won the seat in Vake. With just 7.6 percent of Vake voters turning out, Kvachantiradze received 2940 votes, compared to 2363 for Levan Asatiani of the party, "We Ourselves." Kakha Koridze from Jondi Baghaturia's "Kartuli Dasi" party received 1577. The turnout was so low in both districts that Embassy observers visited multiple polling stations where they did not see a single voter. UNM SWEEPS ADJARA ¶4. (U) In Adjara, also on November 3, the UNM won a landslide victory in elections for the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. The previous Supreme Council consisted of 30 seats. In August 2008, the body changed the election code and reduced the number of seats to 18 for the newly-elected Supreme Council. Of these 18 seats, 12 are proportionally-distributed by party list. The other six TBILISI 00002073 002 OF 002 seats are majoritarian, one for each of Adjara's six regions: Batumi, Kobluleti, Khelvachauri, Keda, Shuakhevi, and Khulo. The UNM took 78.8 percent of the popular vote, and swept all of the majoritarian races, giving the UNM 17 seats. The only other party to pass the 5 percent threshold was the CDM, which received 14.7 percent, and one party list seat. Preliminary results from the election commission showed turnout at just under 45 percent. CEC ANNULS QUESTIONABLE RESULTS ¶5. (C) In some Adjaran PECs, including Shuakhevi and Khulo regions, turnout was extremely high, in some cases even exceeding 100 percent! CEC Chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili told Poloff on November 4 that this "unusually high turnout" led the Supreme Election Council to annul those PECs. Additionally, Tarkhnishvili said complaints by local and international observers, a CEC representative, and internal PEC members were the reason behind the annulment of the entire District of Khelvachauri. CDM Vice-Speaker Levan Vepkhvadze and UNM Chairman of the Legal Issues Committee Paliko Kublashvili were also observing in Batumi, as members of the Inter-faction group of Parliament. The CEC chairman also told Poloff that local officials had been warned by the central government to not interfere with the election or inflate results. Despite these warnings, he said these people did so anyway and "need to be punished." In Khelvachauri, repeat proportional elections will be held on November 16, and the majoritarian race will be re-run on December 14. EMBASSY, USAID, UK OBSERVE ¶6. (SBU) Embassy Tbilisi provided three election observation teams in Adjara. Teams visited several remote PECs in the mountains, as well as in all six districts. Poloff filed one formal complaint at PEC #1 in Khelvachauri district. The complaint stemmed from the PEC Chairman and a District Election Commission representative (present in the PEC) intentionally not following proper counting and tabulation procedures. They persisted in forging the final protocol even after these improper procedures were pointed out. The British Embassy sponsored 11 teams. They noticed some serious problems throughout the day, including busing voters to the polls, intimidation of local observers, ballot stuffing, and intentional manipulation of protocols. UK Poloff submitted a list of the most serious violations his teams observed to Tarkhnishvili. Embassy observers in Tbilisi noticed no violations of election day procedures. MANY OPPOSITION PARTIES BOYCOTT ¶7. (U) The Republican Party, the United Opposition, the New Rights Party the Labor Party and others outside of Parliament, boycotted both elections. The Industrialists party, led by former MP Zurab Tkemaladze, participated in Adjara, but not in the Tbilisi elections. They complained, however, that they were not given access to TV airtime, even though they receive state party funding due to their results in the 2006 local elections. Tarkhnishvili disagreed with the Industrialists' interpretation of the law, saying that their 2006 election results only give them air time in a presidential election. He added however, that the Georgian Public Broadcaster had offered the Industrialists free air time in Adjara, which they refused. LOGSDON