Ruling Party Vows toTake the Remarks of Int’l Observers into Account
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, December 3
The Georgian Dream ruling party vows that they will “closely study and then consider” the remarks and recommendations of foreign observing missions regarding the 28 November presidential elections.
"I would like to thank them for their assessment and recommendations. A significant part of the recommendations concerns amendments to be made to the legislation. This is the responsibility of the parliament. The parliament should carefully fulfill this function. We have to make changes for providing a better electoral environment in the country,” Parliament Speaker IrakliKobakhidze said.
OSCE/ODIHR has released the preliminary assessments and stated that the second round of Georgian presidential election was competitive and candidates were able to campaign freely.
However, “one side enjoyed an undue advantage” and the negative character of the campaign on both sides undermined the process.
The statement says that the campaign for the 28 November vote was marred by harsh rhetoric and isolated incidents of violence, as well as by an increase in the misuse of state resources, further blurring the separation of party and state.
“Private media continued to demonstrate sharp polarization and bias in coverage, while the public broadcaster did not ensure editorial independence and impartiality,” the observers said.
Margareta Cederfelt, Head of the delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, said: “In this run-off election the Georgian people once again expressed their commitment to democracy by actively participating in the electoral process. Regrettably, the increased use of harsh rhetoric in the campaign between the two rounds contributed to a rise in tension in the electoral environment.”
“Georgia has a good international standing as a democracy, and the corresponding commitment shown by citizens and voters was visible and impressive. The quality of the election was undermined, however, by unnecessarily sharp confrontation, negative campaigning and personal insults by some members of the political class, who did this rather than dealing with issues really important for Georgia, such as the rule of law and economic inequality,” said Ambassador Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, Head of the ODIHR election observation mission. “These negative practices were even worse than in the lead up to the first round.”
The US embassy in Georgia wrote that elections are fundamental to democracy, and in that spirit, they welcomed the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission that Georgian presidential runoff was “competitive and that candidates were able to campaign freely”.
“We also share the mission’s concerns, and those of other international and domestic observers, about instances of misuse of state resources for partisan campaigning, among other issues.
“We urge Georgian authorities to address the shortcomings raised by OSCE/ODIHR and other observers, and we are prepared to assist in these efforts,” the embassy statement reads.
Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Georgia Carl Hartzell congratulated the Georgian Dream ruling party endorsed presidential candidate Salome Zurabishvili on her victory and stated that his office “shared the assessment that this process was damaged by the unfair advantage of one party and the negative nature of both parties' campaigns.”
The Georgian Dream ruling party endorsed presidential candidate Salome Zurabishvili received 59.52 percent of the vote and became the first woman president elected in Georgia and the region.
Opposition coalition candidate Grigol Vashadze was supported by 40.48 percent of voters.
In the first round of elections on 28 October, Zurabishvili received 0.9 percent more votes than Vashadze and as none of them were able to receive at least 51 percent of votes the runoff was scheduled.
