US Ambassador praises pre-election environment in Georgia

The United States (US) Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly says that the pre-election environment in Georgia is positive.

Kelly assessed the upcoming municipal elections as he spoke to local media today. Georgia will have the elections this Saturday.

• See also: Key data, info and procedures regarding the municipal elections 

In Kelly’s words, the campaigning processes are being closely monitored by the US embassy, and based on what he says "there is a good election environment”.

The ambassador was quoted as saying that this election is yet another step on the road of Georgia’s democratic development.

He said that the US embassy is in close communication with different parties and actors as well as the Georgian Interior Ministry and the OSCE monitoring mission.

Kelly was asked what he thought about the opposition’s allegations that the government uses administrative resources during campaigning. The ambassador replied that the OSCE has a large monitoring mission to observe this election in Georgia. He said the organisation has its own specific criteria of what can be considered as usage of administrative resources and if such incidents take place, the mission will reflect it in its assessment and so will the US embassy.

With the October 21 vote, Georgia will elect 2,058 members of 64 city councils (Sakrebulo) and 64 municipal mayors.