The Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia, Giorgi Kalandarishvili presented the report of October 2, 2021 Municipal Elections and the 2022 Action Plan of the Election Administration of Georgia.

Giorgi Kalandarishvili informed the representatives of political parties, local and international organizations, diplomatic missions accredited in Georgia, state agencies and the media about the activities carried out by the election administration for conducting genuine municipal elections.

The CEC Chairperson talked about the implemented reforms and innovations, including the unprecedented scale of the vote counting procedure, the video fixation of the vote counting, the live-stream of the CEC sessions, the pilot project on electronic vote counting, the modified voting booth and other innovations. Giorgi Kalandarishvili discussed in details the innovative services and implemented projects aiming at enabling voters to participate in the free environment and democratic election process.

The CEC Chairperson also talked about the current challenges and future plans. He underlined that the pandemic situation was one of the main challenges in 2021, which was successfully addressed by the Election Administration.

Electoral culture and education, credibility and security of elections, services and technologies, inclusive electoral environment and efficient management as well as the institutional strengthening represent those priorities of the CEC Strategic Plan for 2020-2023, which laid as a ground for preparing the 2022 Action Plan of the Election Administration.

"Today we presented a report on the activities carried out as part of the reform under the new management in a relatively short period of time. Notable in this regard are the technological innovations, the services that we have offered to the electoral stakeholders and the voters. These include the use of electronic technologies in vote counting procedure, the creation of electronic platforms to improve and facilitate various services, and the activities that the administration has undertaken to conduct elections amid pandemic”.

We talked about the novelties which ensured developing certain mechanisms to combat disinformation and etc. Considering the relevant recommendations and findings, we identified important needs the Election Administration faces today and we have developed the 2022 Election Administration Action Plan and the document will specifically address the challenges and strategic priorities defined by the Election Administration" stated CEC Chairperson after the presentation.