OSCE Observers Assess the Presidential Election Process in Georgia

On October 28, the day of Presidential Elections in Georgia, OSCE observation leaders monitored the voting process at the polling stations to assess the presidential election for its compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation.

Kristian Vigenin (MP, Bulgaria), the OSCE Special Co-ordinator responsible for leading the short-term OSCE observer mission for the presidential election in Georgia, and the Head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s mission, Margareta Cederfelt (MP, Sweden), closely monitored the election activities, the voting and the work of the election administration and shared their preliminary impressions with the representatives of local media, including GEORGIA TODAY.

They noted that a peaceful and transparent election environment is essential for the country’s future development. The OSCE observation leaders also stressed the importance of this years’ Presidential Election; the rule of appointing the President of Georgia has been changed due to the constitutional changes and accordingly, in 2024 the President of the country will be appointed through a secret ballot, not through the direct voting.

“There is a huge interest towards the presidential elections in Georgia, which is why we are here today,” stated Margareta Cederfelt, OSCE PA mission Head. “We want to observe the process. As a result of constitutional changes, the rule of appointing the next President of Georgia will be different. The future President of Georgia will be appointed in a different way, not through direct elections. The OSCE observers are presented here today. We have interviewed the local observers, the representatives of non-governmental organizations and the local citizens within the framework of our work and mission. Additionally, we talked with the members of the Election Administration of Georgia to find out more about the voter turnout. We will definitely monitor the transparancy of the voting and ballot-counting processes.”

Vigenin noted the interest of international society towards the presidential elections in Georgia is quite high:

“The interest of international society towards Georgia’s presidential elections is remarkably high. I want to stress the importance of the fact that this year an especially large number of OSCE observers is monitoring the election process. We are here to express our solidarity towards the Georgian people. We want to be confident that the elections are conducted transparently and fairly. We will assess the election process and will present the relevant conclusions at a press conference which will be held [on Monday 29]. We hope that this year’s elections will be peaceful, the Georgian people will have an opportunity to express their choice, and the final result of the elections will be in compliance with the voters’ position,” Vigenin elaborated.

The OSCE representatives talked with the representatives of the local election commission. They had questions about the number of registered voters, the process of voting and the voter turnout. They also checked the voter lists and the ballot boxes to make sure everything was in compliance with the standards for democratic elections.

“The election process must be free and fair, that is the main thing. Apart from checking the voter lists and the ballot boxes, we also checked if the polling stations were accessible for people with disabilities. Additionally, we looked through the number of women who vote and the number of women who are appointed at the polling stations and serve. So, there were plenty of questions we had for the members of the election commission,” Margareta Cederfelt noted.

The OSCE observation leaders stressed the fact that the members of the local election commission are well-trained and properly prepared for the election process:

“We had some questions to put to them, the answers of which were already clear for us, but we needed to check that they were trained well and knew the right answers. We got the right answers from them. What is also impressive, there were lot of observers from non-governmental organizations, from the candidates, from the different parties, so, from that point of view, interest in the elections is high throughout the country,” said Vigenin.

As for the reasons behind international society’s interest in the Georgian presidential elections 2018, the representatives of the OSCE explained that it is the last election of this kind. Additionally, international society is interested to see how democracy in Georgia is developing and this presidential election is a good step in this direction.

On October 29, the day after the elections, the OSCE Observers presented a statement of preliminary findings and the relevant conclusions at a press conference.

A final report on the observation of the entire electoral process will be issued approximately eight weeks after the end of the electoral process.

By Ana Dumbadze