U.S. Calls to Accept Election Results
The United States has called on political forces in Georgia to “accept the decision of the Georgian voters and work peacefully and responsibly, including through inclusive dialogue, to continue strengthening democratic institutions.”
“Georgian officials made a genuine effort to conduct [the May 21 parliamentary] elections according to OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections,” a statement issued by the U.S. Department of State on May 30 reads. “We agree with the European Union and other international monitors that this election was an improvement over the January Presidential elections.”
In its conclusion on the January 5 presidential election the OSCE/ODIHR-led international election observation mission said that it assessed “compliance of the [January 5 presidential] election process with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections.”
No judgment of this type was included in the preliminary statement of the international election observation mission assessing the May 21 parliamentary elections. It said, that “despite efforts to conduct elections in line with standards, a number of problems were identified which made their implementation uneven and incomplete.”
“Despite the improvements, international and domestic monitors identified a number of problems during the elections which made implementation of commitments and procedures incomplete,” the U.S. Department of State said. “We urge the Georgian authorities to investigate all allegations of irregularities and to work with all sides to address the challenges and shortcomings identified by international and domestic observers.”
“We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the people of Georgia, including both ruling party and opposition, to strengthen democratic reform and to deepen the strong relations between our two countries.”
