In general, the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission is not provided for local elections – there is no such practice worldwide, – said the First Vice Speaker of Parliament, Gia Volski, during a conversation with journalists.
He was responding to the statement by the British Embassy in Georgia, which called on the government to invite an OSCE/ODIHR mission to observe the upcoming local self-government elections.
According to Volski, the demand for the OSCE/ODIHR’s arrival is hypocrisy.
“In general, OSCE/ODIHR observation missions are not envisaged for local elections. There is no such global practice. At the same time, the demand [from the opposition] for OSCE/ODIHR to come is a certain trick aimed at bringing back an organization they themselves discredited – they exerted pressure on its leadership, politically humiliated them, and launched a serious campaign against them after they made a positive decision regarding Georgia in October 2024. Now, they are demanding their arrival, which is pure hypocrisy. There will be enough observers at the elections, and every opposition party will have its own representative in the commission. Let us remember, there are not many countries in the world that have an electronic voting system. So, we are confident the elections will be conducted at a high level and in line with European standards, and the result will reflect that,” Volski stated.
For context, the British Embassy in Georgia has called on the Georgian government to invite an OSCE/ODIHR mission to observe the local self-government elections and to implement all recommendations given in ODIHR’s final report regarding the 2024 parliamentary elections. This was stated in the embassy’s official statement.
The statement also emphasized that Georgian legislation allows for election monitoring by observer organizations, which is an important component of professional and transparent electoral oversight.
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