How to contest a rigged election through exit polls: Georgia (Asia)

[Woody Box]

Note the date of the elections - November 2, 2003 :o

http://www.cacianalyst.org/view_article.php?articleid=1870

On November 2, parliamentary elections were held in Georgia alongside a referendum on the reduction of the number of seats in Parliament to 150. The popular participation in the elections exceeded expectations. The results of the elections were according to all independent observers a serious loss for the party in power. Preliminary official results show the governmental alliance narrowly coming out first, amid widespread allegations of fraud. By November 4, opposition demonstrations organized by the “Burjanadze-Democrats’ and “Saakashvili-Nationalist” blocks were gathering supporters by the hundreds, threatening unrest as the final results are expected on November 5.

/snip/

The preliminary official results showed the Governmental “For New Georgia” bloc leading with over 24% of the vote, followed by the National Movement with 22%, the Labor Party with 13%, the Burjanadze-Democrats with close to 9%, and the New Rights Party barely over the 7% threshold. While these results showed ca. 70% of the votes going to the opposition, they were also fiercely contested, as parallel tabulations and exit polls had all shown the National Movement over six percentage points ahead of the Governmental Bloc. Both official and independent results were most disappointing for the Burjanadze-Democrats, whose rating prior to the elections had varied between first and second place.

http://www.cacianalyst.org/view_article.php?articleid=1870

Addendum: the election was invalidated later and repeated in January 2004.

[DeepModem Mom]

1. Great find!