US Embassy congratulates Georgia on “well-administered elections”
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The Embassy of the United States (US) congratulates the Government and people of Georgia on Saturday’s well-administered municipal elections.
The embassy said in a statement yesterday that the elections were held in a largely peaceful environment and respected fundamental freedoms.
"We concur with the OSCE’s preliminary report, which noted positively that the candidates could campaign freely and that freedoms of assembly and expression were generally respected", the statement read.
"We also share OSCE’s view that the predominant position of the ruling party underscores its responsibility to ensure that the opportunities of other contestants are not limited", it added.
The embassy stressed that the OSCE also noted reports of intimidation of voters and misuse of administrative resources.
"We urge the government of Georgia to quickly and transparently investigate all electoral complaints", it said.
The embassy added that the US looks forward to continuing the common agenda to advance Georgia’s political and economic development and its aspirations to integrate into Euro-Atlantic institutions and reiterates its steadfast support for Georgia’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.
A British man who moved to Georgia five years ago not only actively got involved in Georgian political life this election season but has also demonstrated a great deal of political responsibility to local politicians.
Fundamental freedoms were generally respected in the October 21 municipal elections in Georgia, and candidates were able to campaign freely. This was stated in the preliminary assessment of the elections released this afternoon by two international observing missions.
Georgia has once again proved it is part of democratic world and a member of the European family, ruling Georgian Dream party’s candidate Kakha Kaladze said at today’s briefing.
Ruling Georgian Dream party’s candidate Kakha Kaladze appears to be winning the mayoral race in capital Tbilisi. The Central Election Commission (CEC) released preliminary results of the Municipal Elections 2017.
The ruling Georgian Dream candidate Kakha Kaladze has won Tbilisi mayoral elections, according to the preliminary data from the Central Election Commission (CEC). The CEC preliminary results say that Kaladze received 51.1 percent of total votes.
The opposition United National Movement party is refusing to participate in the second round of the municipal elections. Yesterday, the party’s political council held a meeting to discuss the issue and announced their decision not to run in the election runoff.
Georgian police are investigating an incident during which a car belonging to an NGO member exploded as the owner was leaving the election headquarters of one of the candidates late last night.
Mtskheta City Court has annulled Tianeti district election commission’s decision, according to which election votes were recounted in Tianeti and five previously canceled ballots were counted in favour of one of the two mayoral candidates.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia has announced the date of the second round of the October 21 municipal elections. CEC chairperson Tamar Zhvania has said that the election runoff will take place on November 12.
The Council of Europe (CoE) Congress of Local and Regional Authorities was overall satisfied with the calm, uneventful and well-administered Election Day in most of the polling stations visited by the delegation, following a competitive campaign where democratic values were respected by and large.