Due to high public interest, we are once again addressing the incorrect, manipulative, and misleading statement by the “Fair Elections” organization regarding the gender statistics of voters participating in the election, reads the statement of the Central Election Commission [CEC].

“The CEC responded to the information spread by the organization yesterday, based on legal norms and factual evidence, which completely disproved the claim that the difference in voter turnout levels between men and women on Election Day deviated from the normal distribution. Despite this, Nino Dolidze, the Chair of the “Fair Elections” organization, made another manipulative and incorrect statement, claiming that the CEC’s statement confirmed her views.

We emphasize that, at the briefing, the CEC did not confirm the claim that the number of male voters participating in the election exceeded the number of male voters registered on all types of voter lists. Instead, it explained the factors that led to the so-called “error” between the gender statistics recorded on Election Day and the preliminary voter turnout data.

The actual number of voters participating in the election is determined by the summary protocols of the election results, which are based on the manual counting of ballots by poll workers in accordance with the requirements of the Election Code. Voter turnout at 20:00 on Election Day is preliminary data sent from polling stations. The final data on voter participation in elections are recorded in the summary protocols of the election results by the Precinct Election Commission.

The CEC explained to the public that gender statistics do not constitute official data and were not included in the summary protocols of election results. The mentioned data are counted by the registrars not for electoral purposes, but solely for processing gender statistics. Due to the counting methodology and certain circumstances, these data may slightly differ from the actual gender turnout, which, in this specific case, occurred only in a few polling stations.

We remind you once again that voters included in special lists take part in elections at polling stations: officers of the election administration, voters in inpatient medical facility, incarcerated voters, military personnel, - individuals whose duties require them to be at an address other than their place of registration.

Taking all this into account, there are 11 polling stations where the number of women participating in the election was mistakenly sent by the precinct election commissions on Election Day, leading to an error in the reported number of male participants. This affects 150 voters. Detailed information is available on our website.

We also would like to remind the public that “Fair Elections” organization stated that parallel vote tabulation conducted during the 26 October elections is in accordance with CEC’s official preliminary election results. Hence, we call on Fair Elections instead of attempting to create wrong perceptions to fully release parallel vote tabulation results which will end any speculation regarding voter turnout, gender, or other type of statistics and generally election results”.