OSCE/ODIHR opens election observation mission in Georgia

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) election observation mission has officially started its work.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) election observation mission has officially launched today to monitor the October 26 parliamentary elections in Georgia. According to OSCE/ODIHR, the mission was officially invited by the Government of Georgia to observe the elections.

The observation mission is led by Owen Murphy. The mission consists of 12 international experts and 30 long-term observers, who will be distributed throughout Georgia from September 19. In addition, 350 short-term observers invited by ODIHR will be added to them a few days before the elections.

"The mission will assess the compliance of the elections with respect to the obligations to the OSCE and other international standards established for democratic elections, as well as its compliance with the national legislation.

Observers will monitor all aspects of the election before and after the election day. In particular, they will monitor the compliance of the process with the legislation, the progress of the pre-election campaign, including in the online space, as well as the work of the election administration, the resolution of election disputes and the media environment. They will also assess the implementation of ODIHR's past election-related recommendations.

Meetings with representatives of government and political parties, representatives of civil society, media and international organizations are an integral part of observation.

On election day, the ODIHR mission together with the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly will monitor the opening of polling stations, the voting process, the counting of ballots and the summarization of results.

The day after the elections, the international observation mission will present the preliminary results of the observation at a press conference. The final report of the evaluation of the election process, including recommendations, will be published in a few months after the end of the election process," the information said.