PM urges international groups to send more election observers

Georgia’s Prime Minister met NDI officials in Tbilisi today. Photo by the Prime Minister’s webpage.
Agenda.ge, 13 Jun 2016 - 17:33, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili is appealing to international organisations to send more observers to monitor the October 8 Parliamentary Elections and the pre-election environment in Georgia. 

The Georgian high official told this to representatives of international non-profit organisation, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), which sent a delegation to Georgia to evaluate the country’s pre-election environment over the next four days.

This afternoon the NDI delegation sat down with Georgian officials in capital Tbilisi to discuss the country’s election environment and other related issues.

The NDI delegation was composed of former United States (US) Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner, ex-member of the Polish Sejm (lower house of Parliament) and former Defense Minister Janusz Onyshkevych, NDI's Resident Director in Georgia Laura Thornton, ex-head of the European Union Delegation to Georgia Per Eklund and several others.

Kvirikashvili attended this afternoon’s meeting with Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze, Minister for European and Euro Atlantic Integration David Bakradze and head of Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee Tedo Japaridze. At the meeting PM Kvirikashvili told the guests Georgia had "significantly improved” its conditions and standards in this pre-election period.  

Kvirikashvili added the Government was ready to provide "democratic, free and transparent environment for the Parliamentary Elections” to ensure they are carried out as smoothly as possible. 

The head of the Georgian Government also briefed the NDI delegation on reforms underway in Georgia regarding media pluralism, ownership rights and independence of the judiciary in Georgia. 

Over the next four days the NDI delegation will observe the preparations for the elections, the general political environment and the potential factors that could affect the electoral process. By the end of their visit the delegation will provide a document assessing Georgia’s pre-election environment.

NDI is a non-partisan, non-profit organisation founded in 1983 that works with partners in developing countries to increase the effectiveness of democratic institutions.