Interfax, Russia
Jan 2 2008
Georgian presidential ballots printed in Russian, Armenian, Azeri,
Ossetian
Tbilisi, 2 January: The Georgian Central Electoral Commission [CEC]
has ensured that all conditions are in place for ethnic minorities to
take part in the presidential election [on 5 January], CEC chairman
Levan Tarkhnishvili has said.
The CEC has printed ballots for non-Georgian-speaking voters. Ballots
have been printed in the Russian, Azerbaijani, Armenian and Ossetian
languages," he said at a meeting of the CEC on Wednesday [2 January].
"We have taken all possible measures to ensure that voters belonging
to ethnic minority groups can vote in equal conditions as [ethnic]
Georgians and so that they can vote freely and in conditions of equal
rights," the CEC chairman said.
Tarkhnishvili said that not only have ballots been printed in four
[non-Georgian] languages, but also that the voter rolls, district
electoral commission documents, voting instructions and voter cards
had been translated into these languages.
"Public service announcements on the rules for voting in the
presidential election and plebiscite [asking if the next
parliamentary election should be held in spring 2008 and whether
voters support Georgia’s accession to NATO] have been translated into
these languages for the sake of national minorities," Tarkhnishvili
added.