The parliamentary elections in Georgia are uderway.

The 69th Marneuli precinct was closed after a person, who allegedly is the City Hall (Sakrebulo) Deputy Chair stuffed several ballots in the box.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs launched an investigation under Article 164-3 of the Criminal Code (Election Fraud), which involves intentional falsification of election-related documents: electoral lists, protocols, ballots, registration journals and control sheets, and is punishable by up to two years of imprisonment.

"This is disturbing information and the election administration, if this information is confirmed, will not allow the possibility that such isolated, controlled or manipulated cases damage the long-term efforts we have invested in relation to Election Day.

I would like to call and appeal to the Marneuli District Commission to urgently investigate the situation, convene a commission meeting, and make an relevant decision.

As far as I know, the Ministry of Interior has opened a criminal case, and I would like to ask the Ministry to take swift action.

Whether all these cases are true or not, they damage the electoral environment and the reputation of the institution," Chair of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Giorgi Kalandarishvili said during a briefing.

Georgian Dream MP Mamuka Mdinaradze suspects that stuffing ballots was a deliberate action.

"A few days ago, I held a briefing on the expected provocations. There was a report coming from the UNM that they were going to bribe people to release the video footage," he said.

Mdinaradze claimed that the act was premeditated to undermine the legitimacy of the election process.

He vowed that the perpetrator would be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

"It is shameful, shameful and immoral to use the ethnic minority to falsify the elections," Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili posted.