November 1 to 3: An Election Observed
Sometime after I volunteered to be an election observer, they told me that I would be posted to a town called Martvili in Samegrelo, a province in the west of Georgia.
Martvili seen from the 7th century church on a hill, with Svaneti in the background.
My translator and driver discuss where to go observe next.
One of the villages where we observed voting. Note the buses used to bring voter to the polls. Perhaps more than once? Few polls were using the ultraviolet finger dye they were supposed to be using on people after they voted.
A nice pothole and a typical house in Samegrelo. People in this district are very poor and typically make everything they eat.
Most of the roads were like this: gravel with potholes. We spent most of the day on roads like this.
A former soviet cultural center now serving as an election precinct. This one was busy but fairly run. There was a large bat flying around in circles inside, just under the rotting ceiling with tattered cloth hanging down in long rags.
I was awake from 6.00am Sunday morning until past 7.00 am Monday watching the election. We slept for a few hours and got up. This is Monday morning in Martvili. Crowds of hung-over people stood around awaiting the results. The square was blocked off with trucks so no cars could enter the square. We left and spent all day getting back to Tbilisi.
Election Reaction
The poster culture on the street in Tbilisi became very intense as the election approached. All the faces in the poster got removed soon after they were posted.
This is Saakashvili's poster, the real winner of the election according to the parallel vote tabulation.
We saw a pair of old ladies, armed with screwdrivers, methodically tearing down these posters , one after another, along Rustaveli. This poster was funded by an American organization and says " We are going to vote, You?"
A last-minute favorite: Shevardnadze as Lenin.
A poster from the student-protest movement Kmara. Enough! stamped over a picture of the current government.
Crowds gather at Philharmonia to protest the CEC results.
The white and red flag is Saakashvili's party flag and is a version of the medieval Georgian flag.
There will be another protest tonight in Freedom square. No one knows what will happen, but the riot police are out in force. The election is generally seen as corrupt and many people are upset.