NDI delegation to assess electoral environment in Georgia

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) announced that it will conduct a pre-election assessment mission focused on Georgia's parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2012.

Members of the delegation are Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State for Missouri; Sam Gejdenson, former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives and former senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee; Per Eklund, former Ambassador and Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Georgia (2006-2010) and currently Senior Fellow at the Institute for Security and Development Studies in Stockholm; Kenneth Wollack, President of NDI; and Luis Navarro, NDI Senior Resident Country Director in Georgia.

The delegation will assess the status of electoral preparations, the conduct of political activity by announced major electoral participants, and the general electoral environment through a series of meetings with government officials, parliamentary candidates, political party leaders, election authorities, and representatives of civil society, the media and the international community.

The delegation will release a report highlighting its findings at the conclusion of the mission at a press conference on June 29. The delegation will have no comment prior to the release of its report.

NDI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.