PACE hosts debates on Georgian presidential elections

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has hosted debates regarding the Georgian presidential elections yesterday.

Georgian Vice Parliament Speaker Tamar Chugoshvili cited PACE observers saying that the “first round of the presidential election was competitive and professionally administered, candidates were able to campaign freely and voters made their choice without restrictions.”

However, Chugoshvili also touched upon issues of concern such as the use of hate speech, the polarisation of public opinion and other issues, and stated that the country is ready to take all the recommendations of PACE regarding the elections into account.

Two rounds of Georgian presidential elections were held in October and November of 2018. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

Chugoshvili stated that the “worst forms of harassment and abuse were used by the opposition against the female presidential candidate, now President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili.

The opposition party [the United National Movement] is the partner of the European People's’ Party (EPP) and I want to address the EPP to pay attention how their partner party treated the female presidential candidate,” Chugoshvili said.

Chugoshvili  stated this in the context of the new campaign of PACE #NotInMyParliament, targeted  against sexist stereotypes and violence, which has been pushed forward in the wake of the PACE regional study,  “which revealed alarming levels of sexism, harassment and violence against women in national parliaments”.

United National Movement representatives accused the current government of using administrative resources and bribing of voters during the debates.

Thee PACE report reads that the Georgian presidential elections were competitive and the legislation  “provided adequate basis for the conduct of democratic elections”.

The report evaluated the activities of the Georgian Central Election Commission as transparent.

The report also mentions a “surprisingly generous system of campaign and party funding from the State budget and private donations” and that the election campaign was marred by harsh rhetoric.

See the full report here.