On September 27th, the Facebook Page “The Real CEC is Us” published a post, claiming that the Election Administration of Georgia (CEC) purchased vaseline worth GEL 70 000 without a tender. The post gives the impression that the event is being protested by Zviad Kuprava, an affiliate of the “United National Movement.” The page encourages people to help Zviad Kuprava in “this great battle” by sharing the post.
The allegations that the CEC purchased “vaseline” worth GEL 70,000 and that Zviad Kuprava is protesting against this event are false. In fact, Zviad Kuprava was talking about arranging “carousels” by the Georgian Dream to rig the elections and the alleged use of vaseline in the process.
No open-source contains information about Zviad Kuprava protesting against the purchase of 70,000 GEL worth of vaseline by the CEC without a tender. In fact, on September 26th, Zviad Kuprava wrote on his Facebook page that the so-called “Carousel” should have been considered as one of the methods by the “Georgian Dream” to rig the elections. In order to arrange the “carousel,” before using the marking liquid, the voters had to put vaseline or similar substance on their hands.
According to Kuprava, the ruling party “taught lessons” about the procedure. However, the Central Election Commission denied the possibility of using this method of fraud.
About the Facebook Page “Real CEC is Us”
The Facebook page “Real CEC is Us” was created on September 26th, 2021, and positions itself as a political organization. From the day of its creation until today, the page has published 2 fake posts.
On September 3rd, 2021, the Civil Movement “Shame” and the “Association of Public Initiatives” launched the “Civic Election Commission” initiative, the main goal of which is to observe, evaluate, respond to irregularities in the 2021 local elections, and alternatively, count the election results. Since the establishment of the Civil Election Commission, pro-governmental actors and Facebook pages have questioned its need. The Facebook page “Real CEC is Us” was allegedly created in response to this very initiative of the civil sector, which aims to create informational chaos and spread distrust of alternative institutions.
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