
PACE Debates Georgia, Discusses Critical Report on October 26 Elections
Georgia’s October parliamentary elections and the post-election events have been one of the central topics of discussion on the opening day of the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Monday, January 27. Some of the MPs called for new elections.
Iulian Bulai, Romanian MP and leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe party (ALDE), presented the PACE report on the Georgian elections published last November. Referring to the report, Bulai said the irregularities identified in the document “significantly undermined the fairness of the electoral process and trust in its outcome and had challenged the legitimacy of its results.”
Bulai described post-election developments, and in particular events since November, as “alarming”, citing the ruling party’s decision to abandon the EU path and police brutality against demonstrators. He said that the Georgian citizens are being arrested “simply for expressing their dissent against shifting European course.” He regretted that post-election events “only serve to confirm and reinforce” the concerns expressed in the PACE report. Bulai added that the conclusions and recommendations of the report “are now more relevant and urgent than ever.”
Declaring that Georgia was moving towards autocracy, Iulian Bulai called for the release of political prisoners and new elections. He said that events following the publication of the PACE report put “a big question mark” over the legitimacy of the elections. He urged the Assembly to “encourage” the Georgian authorities to work towards new elections in order to have “greater legitimacy of governance”.
Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Latvian MP and vice-chair of the European People’s Party (EPP) group presented the report on the monitoring procedure of the Assembly in 2024, part of which deals with Georgia. She said the situation in Georgia has “deteriorated dramatically” over the past year.
Frank Schwabe, a member of the German Bundestag and leader of the Socialists, Democrats, and Greens (SDP), said “It looks like that everything is going in the wrong direction” in Georgia. He said it was “correct” that the credentials of the Georgian delegation had been questioned.
Zsolt Németh, a member of the Hungarian National Assembly and a member of the European Conservative Group and the Democratic Alliance (EC/DA), questioned the challenge to the Georgian delegation’s credentials, saying that Georgia is in a “very difficult geopolitical circumstance,” as he alluded to the factor of neighboring Russia.
Andrej Hunko, a member of the German Bundestag and a member of the Unified European Left (UEL) group, claimed that the October elections in Georgia were no different from other elections in the past as he supported the official election results.
Tea Tsulukiani, Vice Speaker of the Georgian Dream Parliament and head of the Georgian delegation to PACE, also addressed the assembly. She claimed that the elections had not been rigged and that “people just don’t like the results”. She also claimed that the EU had not opened accession negotiations with Georgia and that the GD “did not stop any talks.” She concluded: “All we are asking for is dialogue, but unfortunately there has been no discussion so far”.
The PACE winter session is underway in Strasbourg and will last until January 31. The Assembly already challenged the Georgian delegation credentials. It will decide on January 29 whether or not to ratify the credentials of the delegation.
Also Read:
- 27/01/2025 – Georgian Delegation Credentials Challenged at PACE Opening
- 17/01/2025 – PACE Rapporteurs Visit Georgia
- 10/12/2024 – PACE Rapporteurs Condemn Politically Motivated Arrests, Police Violence
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