Georgian Election Diary
IWPR journalists interview candidates on eve of presidential poll.
Georgian Election Diary
IWPR journalists interview candidates on eve of presidential poll.
Before we crossed the Armenian-Georgian border, the phone of our driver, Zhorik, who was taking us to Tbilisi from Yerevan, rang several times.
“We’re running late, and many important meetings are planned,” Zhorik informed us.
However, because of the icy roads and bureaucratic procedures at customs we were late arriving in Tbilisi, and missed a couple of meetings with Georgian presidential candidates.
Nevertheless, we were able to meet one opposition candidate - Levan Gachechiladze. There's a saying that goes, the house you visit first on the first day of a new year, you will visit more often throughout the year.
It turned out that during our visit to Tbilisi, we went to Gachechiladze's office at least ten times.
During our meeting with Gachechiladze, he warned us that there would certainly be rigged results during the elections.
“Our entire team will fight falsifications both physically and morally,” he said, and the journalists laughed.
If he was to be successful in the forthcoming elections [which have since taken place on January 5 and saw President Mikhail Saakashvili re-elected] Gachechiladze said he would remain president just for one year, after which time, according to his programme, Georgia would cease to have a presidential system.
If Gachechiladze were successful, the prime minister would be Salome Zurabishvili, who was born and raised in Paris.
We also met Zurabishvili, who told us that while women in Armenia may have difficulties in climbing the political ladder, this is one problem that does not exist in Georgia.
After meeting the opposition, we went to our hotel. A short, moustached man opened the door to lead us to our rooms. Half an hour later, we gathered at dinner. During the meal, we got to know each other very well, and when we finished, it was already very late.
The following day, January 4, the day before the election, we assumed we would rest. But, it seems that Georgia is different to other countries.
In Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, campaigning is prohibited directly before elections. However, in Georgia the so-called “period of silence” lasts only eight hours - from midnight until the polling stations open.
On January 4, we listened to the opinions of experts, lawyers’ comments about the country’s election code, and also heard from presidential candidate Davit Gamkrelidze.
In the Tbilisi's Sport Palace, we joined the supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, listened to a song about “cool” Misha [a diminutive of Mikheil] and heard a statement from him.
We wanted to get hold of the red caps and scarves of the campaign, which were handed out by Saakashvili's supporters, but we were not that lucky.
We left the Sport Palace to find it was snowing. We ran through the crowded streets and gridlocked traffic to get to Saakashvili's campaign headquarters, situated in the city's Philharmonic Hall, where he was to answer the questions of foreign journalists. We decided to take a cab.
At the headquarters, Saakashvili was sitting on a sofa with his legs crossed, telling journalists how prosperous Georgia has been during his time in office.
Early on January 5, we divided ourselves into groups in the IWPR office and each went in different directions.
One group went to the polling station where Saakashvili was supposed to vote himself. The other went to see the voting of [former acting president] Nino Burjanadze. The first group was not so lucky: Saakashvili cast his vote almost an hour later than expected, and by that time they were freezing.
While waiting for Burjznadze to vote, we met a Lithuanian participant of the OSCE Election Observation Mission, EOM.
The girl seemed unaware of what was happening. She didn't even know who the head of Central Election Committee, CEC, was or whether there were trusted people at the polling station.
She considered our questions strange and asked us who we were, making a brief note in her notebook.
“[We are] blacklisted,” we joked.
After Burjanadze voted, we observed Gachechiladze vote at another polling station, and then at yet other polling station, we witnessed Georgia's Patriarch Ilia II vote. The latter said that he voted for Georgia's traditions.
After that, we visited the media centre, Gachechiladze's HQ, and the CEC.
Then a row broke out with the opposition, which claimed there had been electoral violations.
A press conference which was about to take place at the CEC was cancelled. Meanwhile, exit polls were being published which showed that Saakashvili was in the lead.
Saakashvili's supporters celebrated their victory, while the opposition started to unite.
We learned that the opposition was planning to organise a rally the following day at 2pm.
Back at the hotel, the hotel owners organised a dinner for us at one o'clock in the morning. Once more, we stayed up all night and talked.
On January 6, major TV companies continued to publish the results from different polling stations. Saakashvili was in the lead.
[That same day, the CEC was to announce that Saakashvili was the winner with 53 per cent of the vote. Gachechiladze took 27 per cent.]
We went to the rally, where many people already gathered, but didn't spend long there as we wanted to hear the statements of international observers.
While the opposition claim violations occurred during the elections, observers said the elections met international standards. When we returned from the press conference, protesters were already leaving.
That evening, the participants of the journalistic mission had a farewell dinner.
Our mission was over. Early in the morning, we left for Armenia. Our driver Zhorik asked us to leave as early as possible, so he could get back to Tbilisi to celebrate his son’s first birthday.
Unfortunately, we left a little later than planned, and Zhorik had to stay overnight in Armenia.
At the Georgian-Armenian border, a Georgian customs officer asked us about the elections.
Murad, a participant from Cherkessia, said, “I congratulate you on your own Putin.”
The customs officer didn't get the joke, and just shrugged.
“We’re running late, and many important meetings are planned,” Zhorik informed us.
However, because of the icy roads and bureaucratic procedures at customs we were late arriving in Tbilisi, and missed a couple of meetings with Georgian presidential candidates.
Nevertheless, we were able to meet one opposition candidate - Levan Gachechiladze. There's a saying that goes, the house you visit first on the first day of a new year, you will visit more often throughout the year.
It turned out that during our visit to Tbilisi, we went to Gachechiladze's office at least ten times.
During our meeting with Gachechiladze, he warned us that there would certainly be rigged results during the elections.
“Our entire team will fight falsifications both physically and morally,” he said, and the journalists laughed.
If he was to be successful in the forthcoming elections [which have since taken place on January 5 and saw President Mikhail Saakashvili re-elected] Gachechiladze said he would remain president just for one year, after which time, according to his programme, Georgia would cease to have a presidential system.
If Gachechiladze were successful, the prime minister would be Salome Zurabishvili, who was born and raised in Paris.
We also met Zurabishvili, who told us that while women in Armenia may have difficulties in climbing the political ladder, this is one problem that does not exist in Georgia.
After meeting the opposition, we went to our hotel. A short, moustached man opened the door to lead us to our rooms. Half an hour later, we gathered at dinner. During the meal, we got to know each other very well, and when we finished, it was already very late.
The following day, January 4, the day before the election, we assumed we would rest. But, it seems that Georgia is different to other countries.
In Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, campaigning is prohibited directly before elections. However, in Georgia the so-called “period of silence” lasts only eight hours - from midnight until the polling stations open.
On January 4, we listened to the opinions of experts, lawyers’ comments about the country’s election code, and also heard from presidential candidate Davit Gamkrelidze.
In the Tbilisi's Sport Palace, we joined the supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, listened to a song about “cool” Misha [a diminutive of Mikheil] and heard a statement from him.
We wanted to get hold of the red caps and scarves of the campaign, which were handed out by Saakashvili's supporters, but we were not that lucky.
We left the Sport Palace to find it was snowing. We ran through the crowded streets and gridlocked traffic to get to Saakashvili's campaign headquarters, situated in the city's Philharmonic Hall, where he was to answer the questions of foreign journalists. We decided to take a cab.
At the headquarters, Saakashvili was sitting on a sofa with his legs crossed, telling journalists how prosperous Georgia has been during his time in office.
Early on January 5, we divided ourselves into groups in the IWPR office and each went in different directions.
One group went to the polling station where Saakashvili was supposed to vote himself. The other went to see the voting of [former acting president] Nino Burjanadze. The first group was not so lucky: Saakashvili cast his vote almost an hour later than expected, and by that time they were freezing.
While waiting for Burjznadze to vote, we met a Lithuanian participant of the OSCE Election Observation Mission, EOM.
The girl seemed unaware of what was happening. She didn't even know who the head of Central Election Committee, CEC, was or whether there were trusted people at the polling station.
She considered our questions strange and asked us who we were, making a brief note in her notebook.
“[We are] blacklisted,” we joked.
After Burjanadze voted, we observed Gachechiladze vote at another polling station, and then at yet other polling station, we witnessed Georgia's Patriarch Ilia II vote. The latter said that he voted for Georgia's traditions.
After that, we visited the media centre, Gachechiladze's HQ, and the CEC.
Then a row broke out with the opposition, which claimed there had been electoral violations.
A press conference which was about to take place at the CEC was cancelled. Meanwhile, exit polls were being published which showed that Saakashvili was in the lead.
Saakashvili's supporters celebrated their victory, while the opposition started to unite.
We learned that the opposition was planning to organise a rally the following day at 2pm.
Back at the hotel, the hotel owners organised a dinner for us at one o'clock in the morning. Once more, we stayed up all night and talked.
On January 6, major TV companies continued to publish the results from different polling stations. Saakashvili was in the lead.
[That same day, the CEC was to announce that Saakashvili was the winner with 53 per cent of the vote. Gachechiladze took 27 per cent.]
We went to the rally, where many people already gathered, but didn't spend long there as we wanted to hear the statements of international observers.
While the opposition claim violations occurred during the elections, observers said the elections met international standards. When we returned from the press conference, protesters were already leaving.
That evening, the participants of the journalistic mission had a farewell dinner.
Our mission was over. Early in the morning, we left for Armenia. Our driver Zhorik asked us to leave as early as possible, so he could get back to Tbilisi to celebrate his son’s first birthday.
Unfortunately, we left a little later than planned, and Zhorik had to stay overnight in Armenia.
At the Georgian-Armenian border, a Georgian customs officer asked us about the elections.
Murad, a participant from Cherkessia, said, “I congratulate you on your own Putin.”
The customs officer didn't get the joke, and just shrugged.
