Foreign ambassadors urge gov't, opposition to "uphold" March agrement on elections

Foreign ambassadors in Georgia, who have been working as facilitators in the dialogue between the government and opposition on 2020 election model, on Monday responded to calls to confirm contents of the March 8 agreement between the two parties by calling on them to "uphold" the deal.

The dignitaries, who played a major role in talks that saw the two sides agree on the model for the 2020 vote, released their statement following an earlier urge by Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze, who asked them to confirm its content.

Talakvadze had asked the facilitators to confirm that the deal involved no promise by the ruling party to release opposition leaders Gigi Ugulava, Irakli Okruashvili and Giorgi Rurua, currently in detention. The opposition earlier made the claim on the condition having been part of the deal and accused the ruling party on failing to fulfill it.

In their response the ambassadors said it was "not our role to make the content of those discussions public or to interpret the agreement" and added the deal was "well-known to the public".

We call upon all sides to uphold the letter and spirit of both parts of the agreement with a view to its successful implementation," reads the statement by the facilitators.

The statement called the March 8 deal a "historic achievement by the political forces of Georgia" that involved "difficult compromises" for the participants.

Earlier on Monday, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said any risk to successful implementation of the agreement was "absolutely unacceptable", following the allegations by the opposition about the ruling Georgian Dream party's refusal to fully abide by it.

In his own reaction, Talakvadze accused the opposition of deceiving the public through its statements regarding the content of the deal, which was struck behind closed doors.