Respect Election Results – EU Tells Political Parties

The European Union (EU) has called on all political forces in Georgia to respect the election results and “to engage constructively and democratically in order to ensure that Georgia continues moving forward.”

In a statement issued by the EU presidency, currently held by Slovenia, it said it was looking forward “to the final results of the presidential elections and urges those responsible that all complaints are adequately and urgently addressed in order to safeguard the legitimacy of the elections.”

“The European Union congratulates the Georgian people for the peaceful conduct of the elections and notes the Statement of the Preliminary Findings and Conclusions of the International Elections Observation Mission which concludes that the elections were in essence consistent with most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections,” the statement reads. “The European Union urges Georgia to take all necessary steps to address the identified shortcomings in order to ensure successful Parliamentary elections later this year. In particular, Georgia needs to do more to reinforce the independence of state institutions in a political campaign environment and to strengthen the freedom and pluralism of the media, as well as the independence of the judiciary.”