Companies that conducted exit polls for Georgian opposition question official election results

Two American sociological companies that conducted exit polls during the 26 October parliamentary elections in Georgia have questioned the official results, which showed a victory for the ruling party, Georgian Dream.

As reported by Reuters, Edison Research, which conducted an exit poll commissioned by the opposition TV channel Formula, stated that the discrepancies between its results and those announced by the Central Election Commission could suggest possible fraud. The exit poll had projected 41% support for Georgian Dream and over 50% for the united opposition.

"The 13-point difference between Edison’s estimate and the official result of 54% for Georgian Dream cannot be explained by normal variation alone and suggests local-level manipulation of the vote," the company said.

Edison noted that the discrepancy between the forecasts and the official result was particularly noticeable at specific polling stations in villages.

HarrisX, which conducted the exit poll for the opposition party Mtavari Arkhi, also questioned the official results.

"We see statistically unexplainable discrepancies amounting to over 8 percent of the total vote, or at least 172,523 raw votes, across a minimum of 27 districts," the company said in a statement.

In their interim report on the elections in Georgia, international observers drew attention to the pressure on and intimidation of voters.

Meanwhile, despite its victory, the ruling Georgian Dream party accused the opposition of supposed "vote theft" and is filing a complaint with the prosecutor's office.