In the wake of visit of the U.S. pre-election delegation, the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) paid fact-finding visit to Georgia on October 8-10.
The delegation, led by Matyas Eorsi (Hungary), co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Georgia at the PACE, which monitors implementation of the commitments undertaken by the Georgian authorities in 1999, while joining the Council of Europe (CoE), focused on the pre-election situation in the country during their visit.
“Now, Georgia is on the crossroad. The November 2 parliamentary elections will define the future of Georgia’s development,” Matyas Eorsi said at a news briefing on October 10.
The 5-member PACE delegation held meetings with the leaders of the pro-governmental and the opposition parties, the State Minister, as well as with the leadership of the Interior, Foreign Ministries, Supreme and Constitutional courts, the Anticorruption Council and the local and international non-governmental organizations.
This is the third visit of the delegation to Georgia this year. During the last visit in early June Matyas Eorsi urged the Georgian authorities to adopt the Election Code as soon as possible, while during the recent visit the PACE delegation’s recommendations were focused on ensuring neutrality of the state resources during pre-election campaign and on the election day.
“It will be very important if the President issues the public statement that the state structures will be neutral during the elections and they would be prohibited from involving into or influencing on the elections process,” said Matyas Eorsi.
“There must not be any pressure on the ethnic minorities from the authorities, as well as on the persons who are on the state budget payroll. The police and other law enforcement structures should fulfill their functions and ensure order and should be neutral during the elections,” said Andre Kvakkestad, member of the PACE delegation.
The delegation members underlined that many positive trends have emerged during the pre-election processes, including adoption of the new Election Code and digitized voter lists displayed on the internet. However the PACE delegation criticized the mass inaccuracy in the lists, as thousands of voters are not registered, while many deceased persons are in the lists.
“The situation with the lists is very difficult. I do not understand why the data from the last census was not used while creating these lists. Within the remaining time [before the November 2 elections] the Central Election Commission must correct the lists and request the voters to check whether they are properly registered,” Matyas Eorsi said.
Matyas Eorsi said that the country started preparations for the elections quite late. “The Election Code adopted also very late. The lists are adjusted in the last moments. Issue of financing the commissions remains unsolved yet,” he added.
The delegation members stated that the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission Nana Devdariani would ensure fulfillment of their recommendations by issuing relevant orders and instructions. For instance, there will be 20 copies of the protocol of election results, instead of 10, at every polling station to exclude possibility of altering the voting results.
The Council of Europe, along with other international organizations, will dispatch observers to the November 2 elections. A report will be prepared right after the elections, to be submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE by the monitoring team for Georgia.
This report, as well as the quality of the November 2 elections will define future relationships between Georgia and the CoE and issue of Georgia’s membership in this organization.
