On May 31, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia presented a special survey on the challenges detected during the monitoring of the election process, as well as recommendations for the elimination of shortcomings, to the representatives of international organizations, the Presidential Administration, the Central Election Commission and NGOs. The mentioned issue is gaining particular importance ahead of the local self-government elections scheduled for October 2017.

According to the Public Defender, the absolute majority of violations in the election process can be eliminated as a result of retraining the election administration. The monitoring showed that the efforts of the Central Election Commission were not enough to properly inform voters, which caused many unanswered questions in part of the voters, particularly in the regions populated by ethnic minorities. Several cases of physical confrontation, at the initial stage of which police officers were only acting as observers, are worth mentioning.

The survey was carried out by the support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation project "Monitoring of human rights violations during election period".

Based on the monitoring results, the Public Defender's recommendations were submitted to the Parliament of Georgia, the Central Election Commission, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Corrections.

The recommendations are as follows:

• Working on the legislative regulations should be launched in order to introduce biometric methods of election processes. In addition, methodology and recommendations should be developed, staff members of the election administration should be retrained; standards for training the members of election commissions should be revised
• The Public Defender of Georgia and his authorized representatives should be authorized by law to enter polling stations without any hindrance and request immediate provision of necessary information on the election day
• The administrative body should be prohibited by law from purchasing broadcasting service "for the purpose of disseminating important information for the public" that may indirectly serve the pre-election interests of the governmental team during the pre-election period
• The election code should provide for the presence of police officers in the vicinity of the polling stations on the election day only when it is necessary to protect public order or prevent violation of the order; police officers should leave the vicinity of the polling stations immediately after such necessity is eliminated
• Each case of violence should be timely and effectively responded in line with the legislation
• Use of excessive force by police officers should be prevented, while timely and effective investigation should be carried pout into all cases of abuse of power or inadequate response
• An effective system should be introduced in the penitentiary establishments to ensure provision of the list of prisoners having the right to vote by the penitentiary establishments to the relevant district election commissions

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