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The News in Brief

Wednesday, October 3
U.S. Department of State comments on Georgia polls

Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Victoria Nuland has made her first official comments regarding the parliamentary elections in Georgia, saying it was a very important day for the country. Nuland emphasized the meaning behind the large-scale international monitoring of the polls.

"It’s obviously a very important day for Georgia. Our understanding from our preliminary reporting is that the turnout at the polls was very strong today. We’ve been looking for a democratic election that is free, fair and transparent. Our understanding is that the Central Election Commission is going to try to tabulate the results overnight, and that we’ll have some announcements in the morning, local time. We’ll see about that.

The international community has had a relatively robust monitoring mission out there, including ODIHR from the – under the OSCE auspices. And our understanding is we have NDI and IRI observers out there as well." Nuland said. (Rustavi 2)



Bidzina Ivanishvili meets with Richard Norland and U.S senators

In the Business Centre, Bidzina Ivanishvili met with the U.S Ambassador to Georgia, Richard Norland and Senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Jim Risch. According to the Georgian Dream, the guests congratulated Bidzina Ivanishvili on his election success. “We came here to congratulate Mr.Bidzina Ivanishvili on the success of Georgian Dream in the elections," stated Senator, Jeanne Shaheen.

The Georgian Dream reported that Senator Jim Risch hoped that the current U.S-Georgia relationship will deepen and strengthen even more. (IPN)



Incident occurred at Rustavi2

An incident occurred on the grounds of the broadcasting company Rustavi2 today. A vehicle suddenly entered a restricted area of the property while one of the company`s vehicles was leaving the territory and the gates were open. The two activists of the Georgian Dream coalition sitting in the car were drunken and even tried to clash with the company staff. The security guards of the company discharged the situation in a few minutes and forced the activists to leave the property of the company (Rustavi 2)



Eastern Europe`s Study Center hails Georgian elections

Eastern Europe`s Study Center has assessed the October 1 parliamentary elections as very professionally organized. Representative of the center, Lithuanian lawmaker, Martas Adomenas introduced the results of the monitoring of polls to the media yesterday.

"The overall observations made by the Eastern Europe Study Center representatives allow us to state that the October 1 parliamentary election in Georgia was in essence consistent with the principle international standards for democratic elections. I would like to emphasize that the elections took place in a peaceful environment and they were extremely professionally organized and they signal significant democratic development on behalf of the Georgian government. I can really congratulate the Georgian government on the organization of this election, which, despite the difficult and tense environment, was conducted in an overall very orderly and professional manner," Martas Adomenas said. (Rustavi 2)



Incident occurred at two constituencies in Khashuri

An incident occurred at N3 polling station in Khashuri late on Monday night. The coordinator of the Georgian Dream Coalition says the clash with the opponents from the United National Movement began after the chairperson of the precinct commission refused to sign the protocol, which was confirming the victory of the GD candidate. The supporters of the GD assembled at the polling station after the clash began. They say the special task units appeared at the territory and tried to take away the ballots. They even shot rubber bullets towards the crowd and obstructed the police vehicles, preventing them from driving away. The elections were disrupted at the Tashiskari N32 polling station too, reported due to the clash which occurred there. (Rustavi 2)