‘Whoever will pay more, I will observe for him’: the Georgian parliamentary elections in Iormughanlo

In Iormughanlo, a remote village in eastern Georgia with a majority ethnic Azerbaijani population, Georgia’s parliamentary elections appeared well organised — by the party officials observing it. It was 09:20 in Iormughanlo and polling station No. 30 in the Keshali village school resembled a buzzing beehive. In front of the polling station, people discussed how many voters they may bring, about money, and who may help find new voters. Someone tells voters how they should fill in the candidate number correctly ‘I couldn’t find Aunt Sakina’s number’, a middle-aged man...