Georgian Election Watchdog Remains in Ukrainian Runoff Vote Monitoring

Georgian election watchdog group, ISFED, said it would continue its participation election monitoring mission for the second round of Ukrainian presidential election.

President Saakashvili said in a statement on February 3 that Georgia was not sending observers to Ukraine because of “controversy” and “misunderstanding” surrounding their presence in Ukraine during the first round of elections and also called on other Georgian observers, who were going to monitor the runoff vote under the aegis of various international organizations, “to return back to Georgia.”

Those Georgian citizens, who were observing the first round of presidential elections in Ukraine under the aegis of various international organizations or international election watchdog groups, faced no problems in receiving accreditation from the Ukrainian Central Election Commission (CEC). The problem was related with those would-be observers, who were sent to Ukraine by the Georgian government. The President’s statement did not explain the motive behind the call on the Georgian citizens to withdraw from election monitoring missions.

Georgian observers from the Tbilisi-based International Society for Fair Elections were monitoring the first round of elections in Ukraine as part of European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO).

Citing commitments it has undertaken before ENEMO, ISFED said in a statement that it would continue its participation in the mission.

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