The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights election observation mission officially started its work in Georgia on 12 September.
The mission includes 12 international experts and 30 long-term observers, who will be distributed across Georgia’s regions. A few days before the elections, they will be joined by 350 short-term observers from the ODIHR.
“The observers will monitor all aspects of the elections before and after voting day. In particular, they will monitor the law enforcement of the process, the conduct of the election campaign, including in the online space, as well as the work of the election administration, the resolution of electoral disputes and the media environment. They will also assess the implementation of previous ODIHR recommendations related to the elections. On election day, the ODIHR mission, together with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, will monitor the opening of polling stations, voting procedures, the counting of votes and the tabulation of results.” – he said in a press release.
The mission is scheduled to present the results of the preliminary observation at a press conference the day after the elections, and “the final report on the evaluation of the electoral process, including recommendations, will be published several months after the end of the electoral process.”
The day before, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service warned that the US State Department was preparing a plan to interfere in the elections in Georgia with the participation of the OSCE ODIHR.
“The Americans agreed to “cooperation” with the leadership of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Georgia. The OSCE/ODIHR is expected to publish an interim report 10-20 days before the vote, concluding that there are no conditions in the country for free and fair elections.” – says the SVR report.
The ruling Georgian Dream party is seeking a constitutional majority in the parliamentary elections on 26 October. According to the SVR, as soon as the first election results are made public, the OSCE/ODIHR will submit a conclusion stating that the electoral process did not meet the standards of democracy.
