According to the website of the Central Election Commission, 101 local organizations were monitoring the October 26 elections. Two of them had the most observers: the International Observatory of Advocates and Jurists (2,491 observers) and the Politics and Law Observer (2,654 observers). By comparison, authoritative non-governmental organizations in Georgia, which have been observing elections for years, had about 1,000 observers or fewer. For example:

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) had 1,664 observers;
Transparency International — Georgia (TI) — 975,
Association of Young Lawyers (SAIA) — 650.

Aprili Media sought information on the two organizations that had the most followers on Election Day. They are connected with each other, and moreover, authoritative organizations said that they were mobilizing Georgian Dream voters at the polling stations in the previous elections.

We offer videos taken by observers at different polling stations, showing what they were doing at the polling stations. In addition, in the article you will see who Grigol Gagnidze and Eka Agladze are, as well as what they did during the various elections.

What Do We Know about Grigol Gagnidze and Eka Agladze?

These organizations are probably headed by members of the same family: Grigol Gagnidze and Eka Agladze. Apart from the fact that the legal address of both organizations is the same, Gagnidze and Agladze are registered at the same address, probably with their son.

Eka Agladze’s Facebook page often contains shared statements of Grigol Gagnidze, as well as joint photos.

Eka Agladze and Grigol Gagnidze. Photo: Eka Agladze’s Facebook page

Information is being sought on public sources that Grigol Gagnidze is a lawyer and a member of the Bar Association. His Facebook page also states that he worked as a lawyer in Georgian Dream.

In addition, in 2018, as well as in 2019 and 2024, Gagnidze was a candidate for chief prosecutor’s office, although in the last two cases, it is indicated on the website that he withdrew his candidacy with a personal statement. In the statement of July 5, 2024, he says that he consulted with several members of the parliamentary majority and was convinced that there is no alternative to appointing Giorgi Gabitashvili to the position of the Prosecutor General. Later, it was Gabitashvili who was appointed as the prosecutor. It should also be said that the process of electing the Prosecutor General should be independent and it does not include formal or informal consultations with the deputies. In particular, in the criteria and rule for appointment to the position of the Prosecutor General of Georgia, which is published on the website of the Prosecutor’s Office, we read that the candidates are nominated at the session of the Prosecutor’s Council, and the already selected person is presented by the Council with appropriate justification to the Parliament, which elects the Prosecutor General with a majority of the full composition.

It should be noted that in 2024 he was nominated by seven organizations, among them was his own International Observatory of Lawyers and Lawyers, as well as the Observer of Politics and Law. The text presented on the website of the Prosecutor’s Council indicates that Gagnidze is actively involved in the “democratic processes of the development of the justice system” in the country and that in 2013-2019 he actively participated in the Criminal Law Reforms Advisory Council of the Ministry of Justice. In addition, in the same document, we read that in 2015, he participated in the competition for the selection of the chief prosecutor and was “honored” to be nominated by the former chief prosecutor, Irakli Shotadze.

In the same document, his and his organization’s activities are reviewed. For example, we read here that in 2020-2024, Gagnidze is an active member of the local council of the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice. In addition, the document indicates that Gagnidze was a participant in the public discussion of the amnesty bill in the Human Rights Committee of the Parliament, on the basis of which 1,200 prisoners left the prison, and 1,500 had their sentences reduced.

We also read here that Grigol Gagnidze was one of the authors of the report on the illegal prosecution of lawyers in 2009-2013, and two lawyers who were released as a result of the 2012 amnesty were recognized as illegal prisoners based on the committee’s report.

In the same document, it is written that in 2018-2020 Grigol Gagnidze was a member of the selection commission for representatives of the Central Election Commission in the presidential administration, and in 2017 he was a candidate for the membership of the Supreme Council of Justice. The media is also looking for information that he participated in the election of non-judge members in 2022.

The document contains an extensive list of Gagnidze’s cooperation with justice and penitentiary agencies.

Grigol Gagnidze actively makes statements in support of the Georgian dream, including in television interviews, which are then uploaded to the YouTube channel under the name: Grigol Gagnidze * Human Rights Defender * Lawyer *.

Examining Gagnidze’s Facebook page shows that he is a supporter of the Georgian Dream, he actively shares the statements of the party and its leaders, as well as propaganda materials, and besides, Gagnidze is busy criticizing the opposition. For example, he shares his own interview from the Facebook page called “Joint Newspaper”. In the interview, Gagnidze says that ” the main goal of the opposition is to come to power and finish the dark affairs that were not achieved during Saakashvili’s regime.” National Movement is especially active, the majority of the opposition are members of the guilty party”.

Gagnidze is distinguished by homophobic opinions. For example, the statement of his organization about the violent crackdown of a peaceful protest by clergymen and parishioners on May 17, 2013, which is openly published by the pro-Russian, propagandist Saqinform, is also being sought. Gagnidze’s position is that polls should be conducted so that the public can determine their position on whether “(LGBT) events” should be banned or not.

“As we can see, the attempt to hold a provocative action on May 17 (LGBT) caused a negative reaction in our society, which drew the attention of the international community as well. Clergymen and a large part of the society condemned the propaganda of immorality”, – it is mentioned in the statement.

In addition, a 2015 video is being searched on the Internet, where Gagnidze, along with several other people, protested the marriage of queer people in the United States of America. In 2014, the director of the International Observatory of Lawyers and Lawyers, together with pro-Russian Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, opposes the anti-discrimination law. In addition, there are materials where Gagnidze requests and actively supports the definition of the family as a unity of man and woman in the Constitution of Georgia.

Grigol Gagnidze also makes sexist statements. He responds to discussions about the sexual harassment law as follows: “The topic of gender inequality, sexual harassment or violence against women is brought up.”

“In general, a woman always tries to look beautiful, sexy, to please a man. This is natural. To prevent sexual harassment, let’s prescribe them how to dress so as not to annoy men. It’s a joke, but by adopting the law without understanding, it is easy to prevent beautiful, flirty women from having the opportunity for career development, because the male leaders will simply refuse to hire them for fear of accusations of violence,” he said.

In addition, he criticizes President Salome Zurabishvili and calls her the president of the opposition.

“Mrs. President is under illusions. She really thinks that 65% of the population supports her. She curses the people who actually won the election and elected her as president. If she had honor, she should resign herself. […] Mrs. Salome has turned into the president of the opposition, she supports those who have not done anything good for the country except to bring harm. Her travels abroad can be described by a Georgian proverb: a madman was going to the city, what he was carrying, what he was bringing?”

It should be noted that in 2018, when Salome Zurabishvili was a candidate supported by the Georgian Dream, Gagnidze took photos with her and posted them on social networks. On his page, we can see photos uploaded in 2019 with Irakli Kobakhidze and Kakha Kaladze.

Photo: Grigol Gagnidze’s Facebook page

What Do We Know about 2 Organizations Related to Gagnidze, Which Had a Total of More than 5,000 Observers During the Elections?

According to the data of the public register, the International Observatory of Advocates and Lawyers was registered by Grigol Gagnidze in 2012, and his contact email was [email protected]. According to the extract of 2024, the organization has a board, whose members include only Gagnidze himself. He is also a director. The new email address is: [email protected]

As for the Observer of Politics and Law, according to the extract from the public register , this organization was also registered by Grigol Gagnidze (in 2016) and here he was the only member of the board and the chairman. In 2020, Gagnidze applied to the registry for the change of the person with managerial/representative powers and the partner. It should be noted that in the case of the first two appeals, the registry identified a defect in his application, and the following is indicated as one of the reasons:

“The registration statement requests a change of partner, however, a non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entity does not have partners, and therefore the said request is not subject to registration. In addition, according to the contents of the submitted document, a new composition of the board is appointed (one member is Eka Agladze P/N 010********), accordingly, there is a change in the member of the governing body”.

Finally, after submitting additional documents, Eka Agladze, who is probably a member of the Gagnidze family, became both the chairman of the organization and the only member of the board. The last extract on the website of the public register is fixed on September 4, 2024 and the content is unchanged.

What Did these Two Organizations Do in Previous Years?

On the Facebook page of the International Observatory of Lawyers and Lawyers, you will find a number of posts about the fact that the organization held a meeting with citizens to inform voters within the framework of the CEC grant project. For example, such a post was posted on May 9, 2019 .

According to the organization’s Facebook page, “For the pre-election agitation of the presidential elections, the CEC grant project – local broadcaster for informing voters and raising election awareness”, meetings were held from September 18, 2018 to October 21, 2018, this time, together with Marneuli TV.

As for the involvement of the International Observatory of Advocates and Lawyers and the Observer of Politics and Law in the elections of the past years, according to the website of the CEC, they were already observers in many elections.

During the 2013 presidential elections, the International Observatory of Lawyers and Lawyers had 3,497 observers;
During the 2014 self-government elections, the organization had 291 observers registered;
2016 parliamentary elections were observed by 560 observers of the organization;
2017 local self-government elections — 753;
2018 presidential election — 2,926;
During the parliamentary elections of 2020, among the observers we see the second organization founded by Gagnidze. In the first round of these elections, the International Observatory of Advocates and Jurists had 4,662 observers, and in the second round, 4,551 observers. As for the Observer of Politics and Law, the organization registered 2,643 observers in the first round and 2,667 in the second round;
Both organizations also observed the 2021 self-governing elections — the International Observatory of Lawyers and Jurists had 159 observers in the first round and 1,668 in the second round, and the Observer of Politics and Law had 5,161 in the first round and 7,110 in the second round.

In addition, they observed mid-term and special elections.

This year’s elections are not the first time when authoritative monitoring organizations accuse non-governmental organizations registered by Grigol Gagnidze of mobilizing and controlling the will of supporters of the Georgian Dream. For example, the Human Rights Center announced during the observation process of the 2018 presidential elections that the representatives of the International Observatory of Lawyers and Jurists in the 22nd electoral district of Marneuli, the 12th precinct of Sabirkendi were taken by minibus to vote for the candidate supported by the Georgian Dream. According to the observer of the organization, they brought different voters at least 5 times during the day.

“According to the observers of the Human Rights Center, the International Observatory of Lawyers and Lawyers worked for the benefit of the Georgian Dream at the election precincts of Gori municipality.”

In addition, on April 2, 2022, the day of the mid-term elections of the Parliament and Municipal Council of Georgia, Fair Elections (ISFED) announced that a case of alleged voter bribery was detected in the vicinity of Batumi polling station #79 by an observer accredited by the Political and Law Observer.

According to the information of the organization, a verbal communication related to the alleged bribery took place near the same area of Batumi.

“The conversation was related to the promise of giving fuel coupons to the voters. According to the communication recorded by the Fair Elections Observer, the coupons were later handed over to them by an accredited observer on behalf of the Political and Legal Observer.

In the same statement, the representative of Fair Elections noted that at several polling stations in Batumi, voter registration was being carried out by coordinators of the Georgian Dream and, presumably, accredited observers of various organizations operating for political purposes. Among these organizations, ISFED named the Observer of Politics and Law and the International Observatory of Advocates and Lawyers.

In the statement of the organization, we read: “Organized (repeated) mobilization/transportation of voters to vote was observed near polling stations #79 and #89 in Batumi. Coordinators of the Georgian Dream and their related observers from various organizations were involved in the process, among which are: Observer of Politics and Law, Union of United Youth of Georgia, International Observatory of Lawyers and Lawyers, New Adjara, Alternative NGO and others. After the queues of voters were no longer visible at the polling stations, the coordinators called those voters who had not voted yet and asked them to come to the polling station.”

In the same statement, there is talk about numerous cases of agitation by the accredited observer of the Politics and Law Observer, as well as the mobilization of voters through telephone communication.

What Were these Two Organizations Doing on the October 26 Elections?

Many observers claim that the representatives of the International Observatory of Lawyers and Lawyers and the Observer of Politics and Law were involved in the mobilization of Georgian Dream voters, and also created chaos at the polling station.

For example, the observer of the mobile group of the Young Lawyers Association (SAIA) in Chugureti, Nana Zakariashvili, told Aprili Media that the observers of the International Observatory of Lawyers and Lawyers were not impartial and objective. According to her, in some cases, they loudly announced at the polling station that they were from the Georgian dream. According to Nana, the governing team had plus one person in the election commission as observers.

According to her, one of the observers of the organization knew all the members of the election commission and his attitude towards her left the impression that he was a superior person. Nana also says that during the day he worked in the district as an observer of a non-governmental organization, but in the room reserved for meals he said that he was a supporter of the Georgian Dream. According to her, this “observer” who was already drunk in the evening was interfering with the vote counting process.

“He tried to break in about five, six times. He was shouting in the process of counting the ballots, he rushed to us. Then he shouted at us, rushed to the table by the ballots during the counting, when even we, who were observers, had to stand within a radius of one meter”.

Another SAIA observer from Tbilisi, Mikheil Tsikhelashvili, also says that various pseudo non-governmental organizations were engaged in agitation for the Georgian dream in the districts.

In addition, Tea Godoladze wrote on Facebook that one of Akhalkalaki’s outer and inner perimeters was “governed” by a suspicious, numerous group of young people who were apparently tasked with monitoring visitors.

“There were 2 ladies standing at the door, whom I also rudely asked, and they naively answered that they are agitators. These agitators were protected by this group of young people from an interesting organization: the International Observatory of Advocates and Lawyers.

Photo: Tea Godoladze

Another observer also wrote on Facebook that the procedure of closing the precinct and counting the votes in the 33rd precinct of Saburtalo was led not by the chairman of the commission or any member, but by an observer “implanted by the dream non-governmental organization (International Observatory of Lawyers and Lawyers)” who “removed the hatch from the transfer box”.

According to his own information, when he noticed that the person was not a member of the commission, he called the chairman and asked him to fulfill the duties assigned by the law himself, and not to the observer.

“Even during the process of counting the votes, the “observer” constantly gave action instructions to the members of the commission. At the same time, during the vote counting process, they tried not to give me the opportunity to observe properly (they asked me to move away, and one of the members of the commission physically pulled me several times and covered me so that I could not see)”.

The observation mission, in the materials collected by My Voice, attempts to violate the international observatory of lawyers and jurists on the part of the “observer” can be seen many times.

In addition, according to the information of Radio Marneuli, Ramaz Karakhmazli was an observer of the Politics and Law Observer in the N7 area of Marneuli, who was distinguished by his aggressiveness towards journalists and other observers. The publication also writes that Karakhmazli is a supporter of Georgian Dream and after the election, when he heard that Georgian Dream received 933 votes in precinct N7, he thanked the chairman and observers of the precinct for their work, after which he left the area of the precinct together with dozens of men dressed in black. According to Radio Marneuli, later Karakhmazli was at a supra with Georgian Dream MP Zaur Dargal, and the representatives of “Dream” themselves spread the photo on social networks.

Photo: Radio Marneuli

Marneuli Community Radio also reports that another observer of Politics and Law Observer, Mahamed Almamedov, forbade the journalist of Radio Marneuli to film in the area of N31 in Sadakhlo.

“Later, when the journalist was leaving the territory of the district, Almamedov told him in a private conversation that he was a supporter of the Georgian dream,” writes Radio Marneuli.

Observers are actively talking about the so-called supporter of the Georgian dream. Representatives of Gongo (government) organizations interfered with work on the election day, were involved in voter mobilization and agitation, and also created conflict situations.

It should also be noted that a few days after the elections, the director of the organization, Grigol Gagnidze, was at the meeting of the interdepartmental commission for free and fair elections, after which he told the media that the leakage of the marker on the ballot cannot be used as a basis for invalidating the ballots.

“Emphasis was placed on the violations that were reported in social networks and media, that, for example, the marking on the ballot was leaked and these ballots should be invalidated. In this regard, the CEC presented evidence and, in fact, explained that these agreements, that is, the organization providing this inventory, is responsible for those ballots, those markers, and the technical inventory, which, for example, was leaked by the felt-tip pen on the ballot. This cannot be the basis for the annulment of the ballots and the general annulment of the election results”.

For information, the purpose of the interdepartmental commission is to prevent violations of the election legislation by civil servants and to respond to violations. It is headed by the Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze. As a rule, heads of public agencies, representatives of international and local monitoring organizations, as well as political parties participate in the commission’s work.

Regarding the information provided in the article, Aprili Media tried to communicate with Grigol Gagnidze and Eka Agladze in various ways and several times. We tried to contact them on the numbers indicated in the public register, as well as on the Facebook pages of Grigol Gagnidze and his organization, the International Observatory of Advocates and Lawyers. As for the Observer of Politics and Law, the page of this organization is not searched. Neither Gagnidze nor Agladze answered our phone calls and messages.

First, we wondered where these organizations got the funds to pay for the work of more than 5,000 observers, and why their organizations did not file a complaint on election day.

On November 2, in the “Nodar Meladze Saturday” program, journalists talked about Gagnidze’s organization. According to journalists, they were able to meet with him only after the completion of the interdepartmental commission. Here is Gagnidze’s comment regarding the observers of the organization. According to him, no one’s political opinion can be read in advance.

Gagnidze answered in the negative to the journalist’s question whether the observers’ fees were given to Georgian Dream. When asked where the observers were financed, he answered: “It’s none of your business.”

Aprili Media also checked both organizations in the register created on the basis of the Russian law. There are currently none on the list. In case of receiving an answer from Grigol Gagnidze or Eka Agladze on these and other issues, we will include their comments in the article itself.