OSCE Keeps Eye on Georgia’s Elections

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) set up one of the largest and longest running observation missions ever deployed to an OSCE country on September 9 to monitor the November 2 parliamentary election process before, during, and after election day in Georgia.

“The forthcoming elections are crucial for the future democratic development of Georgia,” said Julian Peel Yates, the Head of the Observation Mission, at a news briefing on September 9 in Tbilisi.

“It is now the responsibility of all actors involved in the elections, including the authorities, political parties, and civil society at large, to ensure a democratic electoral process. These elections are a test of Georgia’s democratic will,” he added.

Representatives of the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE will initiate monitoring two months prior to election day.

At present there are 10 observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) at the headquarters of the Election Observation Mission, who will monitor the pre-election processes in Tbilisi. Another 21 long-term observers will be dispatched to the regions of Georgia to monitor the election process there.

“Our role is to observe and monitor [elections], it is not to supervise, or manage [elections]. I want to stress this very important distinction. We will not interfere in the election process. We will observe and analyze the campaigning of the political parties, the work of the election administrations and election commissions, and the work of the local authorities and the media,” Julian Peel Yates said.

Any violation of the procedures that might occur during or before the elections will be reflected in a report put together by the observers. The Head of the Observation Mission said that the international community’s huge interest in the elections in Georgia “recognizes that there were difficulties during the previous elections.”

Julian Peel Yates expressed hope that the OSCE observers will be able to conduct their tasks in every region of Georgia, including the Adjarian Autonomous Republic. The authorities of the Autonomous Republic did not let the election observer NGO, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, monitor the previous elections in the region.

“We expect that we will be able to observe wherever elections are held in Georgia. I will be very surprised if there is any corner in Georgia, including Adjara, where we will not be welcomed,” said Julian Peel Yates.
 
Beside the short-term observers, who have already started operating, up to 400 short-term observers together with representatives of the of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe will be dispatched to Georgia to monitor the November 2 elections.

On November 3 the OSCE observation mission will issue a statement about the preliminary findings and conclusions over the parliamentary elections. One month after the announcement of the final results of the elections, the mission will issue a report depicting all the registered violations in detail.

By Tea Gularidze, Civil Georgia