In the morning program of "Commersant" radio station, lawyer, civil law specialist and business consultant Gvantsa Zhorzholiani spoke about the upcoming parliamentary elections.
According to Zhorzholiani, this year it is especially important to follow key rules on voting days.
"First of all, I would like citizens to take into account that this year all of the tabulation of results is automated , that is, it is necessary to color the ballot paper, and not circle it, otherwise the vote will be invalid. Voting can be considered invalid if the ballot paper contains any symbols, because the electronic machines only takes the colored part and the symbols can be considered as a vote, then this ballot paper can be colored red, and the commission can consider this ballot paper invalid.
Therefore, I call on the citizens to refrain from coloring the ballot paper, making symbols and writing on it", says Gvantsa Zhorjoliani.
As for the registration process, if a citizen can’t vote at the registered election address, he can apply to the public registry for a change of address no later than 15 days before the election day.
“When a citizen is registered at one address but lives at another, in this case there are two ways:
First, go and vote at the place of registration.
Second, if he owns real estate in another city, he can change his registration address 15 days before the elections.
After 5 days, the House of Justice will inform the Central Election Commission and he will be registered at a new polling station. This can be done by citizens who do not own real estate, but who have the opportunity to register in the city of residence.
If a person has problems with movement, he must document the problem in writing, or electronically. This year's elections will be the first time when citizens have the opportunity to register online because they cannot physically get to a polling station
This only applies to those voters who cannot get to their registration address. However, these deadlines have already passed, as according to the electoral law, a citizen had to register as a user of a portable ballot box by October 15.
The law still does not specify what a portable ballot box is for, for illness or incapacity reasons.
One more innovation we have is that those voters who will vote using a portable box will undergo a marking procedure as well.
The portable ballot box leaves the polling station at 9 a.m. and returns no later than 7 a.m., since the ballot box must be in place at opening and closing time of the polling station. No one knows for sure in what time period from 9 am to 7 pm the ballot box will reach the voter," the lawyer notes.
Recently, there have been more complaints from citizens that strangers are registered at their address of residence, in Zhorzholiani’s words, this may be a technical problem.
But in case of reasonable doubts, a citizen should contact the Ministry of Justice.
"Strangers can be registered at your address due to two reasons. Firstly, it may be a technical error, in the pre-election period such problems become particularly acute. In this case, a citizen has the right to apply to the state register, write an application and request information on how many people are registered at his address. The House of Justice will sent an official letter within 10 working days. If a citizen cannot come to the House of Justice, he can use online services of the Public Service Development Agency ," the business consultant stresses.
