‘No Mass Falsification’ – Chief OSCE Observer

International observers have no impression that there was a mass falsification of election results, Dieter Boden, head of the OSCE/ODIHR long term observation mission, said on January 8.  

“We know that the process of counting and tabulation of results was faulty. We’ve heard a lot of arguments and we saw some documents that [point in] that direction. All of us, we are under the obligation to look into these matters very seriously,” Boden said. “But I would also stress once again that what we’ve heard and seen up to now, I think, will not make us revise the words that we have spoken out in the report that we have submitted on Sunday. We do not have the impression that there was a mass falsification of this election.”

Boden, a German diplomat, was speaking with journalist after meeting with Davit Gamkrelidze, a presidential candidate and the leader of the New Rights Party. Later on January 8 he also met with Levan Gachechiladze, another presidential candidate, who has claimed that his votes “have been stolen” through manipulation and fabrication of original vote summary protocols.

Earlier today, Boden met with the chairman of the Central Election Commission, Levan Tarkhnishvili. He said that he had asked the CEC chairman “to look very seriously into all complaints and objections.”