Azerbaijani Man Arrested for Election Fraud at Polling Station in Marneuli

Georgian law enforcement has detained an ethnic Azerbaijani in Marneuli who gained international attention through a viral video showing him stuffing a stack of ballots into a voting box, according to Shalva Papuashvili, a member of the political council of the "Georgian Dream" party and the parliament chair.

The detainee, Rovshan Iskenderov, is the deputy chair of the local municipality and a member of the ruling "Georgian Dream" party. An investigation is underway, and police will decide on Iskenderov’s future based on its results.

According to the Central Election Commission, the ruling party won the elections with 54% of the vote. However, the President of Georgia and opposition parties have declared the October 26 parliamentary elections illegal and fraudulent. Among the evidence presented, the most well-known is a video from polling station 69 in the Azerbaijani-populated Marneuli, where Iskenderov, in the presence of other election officials, can be seen casting a stack of ballots into the box.

The incident was captured on video by an observer from the "My Voice" mission, who was subsequently physically assaulted and expelled from the polling station. Former public defender Nino Lomjaria later shared the video footage online, amplifying the incident’s visibility.