‘’It’s important to have a long-term monitoring mission, because misconduct [electoral manipulation] happens not just on the day of the election, in fact it starts months before: intimidation, vote buying, state workers being threatened with losing their jobs if they don’t vote right. These are tactics that have been used in Georgia for many, many years under different governments. Early monitoring of elections is important to help Georgian voters develop trust in the results,’’ said US Ambassador Kelly Degnan in an interview given to Radio Liberty.
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According to her, it is less important whether the USA has confidence in the results, but the voters and the people of Georgia should believe that the elections are really fair and reflect the will of the people of Georgia.
‘’In 2020, it was impossible to have international oversight because of Covid, and I think that played a big part in making so many question why there were so many accusations and complaints - because you didn't have foreign aid with observers to help identify problems and make sure the process was fair.
No one has called the 2020 elections were fair, and no one has called the 2021 municipal elections were fair either. It's sad and I hope the 2024 elections will be better.’’
Ambassador Degnan also touched on the electronic voting system in the interview and said that it does not guarantee that everything will be clean and fair.
‘’I think my advice would be more for the voters: come out and take part in the elections. Make sure your voice is heard and your choice is factored in. The US Embassy will support a voter education campaign that will help people not only understand why their vote matters, but also help voters know how it works in this particular election, as 90% of districts are switching to electronic voting. District staff should know how it works. Otherwise we will have more confusion both in constituencies and districts. As we saw in the local government elections, when 10% of the districts had e-voting, there were some problems - admittedly more technical than anything else, but it can slow down the whole process when the whole country is voting electronically.
We also saw in the US that the electronic system does not guarantee that everything will be clean and fair. It can also be manipulated if people are not trained to use the system and if voters do not understand how it works.
So this will be an important election and an educational campaign not only about why your vote matters, but also about the very technical side of voting.’’
Because of these statements, the members of the ruling party Georgian Dream responded with accusations to Ambassador Degnan.
‘’When you question the electronic voting system in 2024… you are a provocateur, Madam Ambassador. I want to address you and tell you directly, you did not understand your mission, you did not take into account that you were not a representative of a party, but of the state. I'm very sorry, Madam Ambassador, but you failed as an ambassador, and this needs to be said. You have deepened polarization in the Georgian society with your activities.
You were probably one of the creators of the revolutionary wave here, and we suppressed it 3-4 times, because it was never in the interests of Georgia and its population to riot and open a second front,’’ said member of parliament Irakli Zarkua,’’
‘’Ms. Kelly Degnan's statement is filled with politics from start to finish. It is a call, which is usually made by a political party – ‘’Go to the elections, protect your vote!’’ That is, someone is stealing someone else's vote and she urges them to protect their vote a year and a half in advance. This is already a push, an indication that the electoral process should be conducted in a revolutionary manner.
They tell us that the elections are rigged even before the elections, but they cannot provide the facts. In 2020, we watched how the election was recognized on the one hand, and on the other hand, the crisis was facilitated, but not a single document or testimony could be brought that the election was rigged. Now we got the truly revolutionary electoral code that everyone was pointing to. Do we remember - everyone pointed out that if there was an electronic vote counting system, then there would be no problem of falsifying the elections and announcing the results instantly. This system has been implemented, but we have already seen an orchestrated attack on this system. The ambassador made a statement, then one political party followed it, now others will follow it, and people will start to think that even the elections conducted with the electronic system are rigged,’’ said Irakli Kadagishvili, a member of the parliamentary majority.
According to Levan Khabeishvili, chairman of the National Movement, ‘’when a strategic partner says that you are a falsifier and that the elections conducted by the government are dangerous, this is a verdict for the Russian party - therefore, the Georgian people must implement this verdict.’’
Parliamentary elections in Georgia will be held in 2024.
