US Senator Shaheen: Georgian election day ‘well administered,’ but elections not only election day
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen said that she was concerned by allegations of voter intimidation, vote-buying and pressure on voters during the October 2 municipal elections in Georgia. Photo: Getty Images.
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US Senator Jeanne Shaheen says that she was happy that the Georgian October 2 municipal election day was ‘well-administered and peaceful,’ but added that elections are not only about election day itself.
She told Voice of America that the Georgian government will not be able to avoid allegations of intimidation, vote-buying, pressure on candidates and voters during the elections.
Shaheen says that the Georgian people deserve free and fair elections.
The US and EU embassies have stated that the elections were generally well administered, but were characterised by ‘hardened polarisation.’
They agreed with the preliminary findings of the OSCE/ODIHR and said that the contestants were able to campaign freely in a competitive environment, and that election day proceeded in an orderly and transparent manner.
The EU and US embassies have assessed the October 2 municipal elections in Georgia and stated that the race was generally well administered, but was characterised by ‘hardened polarisation.’ They agreed with the preliminary findings of the OSCE/ODIHR and said that the contestants were able to campaign freely in a competitive environment, and that the election day proceeded in an orderly and transparent manner.
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen has stated that former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s return to the country is unlikely ‘to be useful’ and won’t ‘help ease the situation’ in Georgia. In an interview with the Georgian bureau of Voice of America (VOA), she also noted that after the parliamentary elections in 2012 when the United National Movement (UNM) lost the race and the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party came to power, Saakashvili who was Georgia’s president under the UNM-led government ‘discredited himself.’
United States Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Rob Portman have met with the government and opposition in Georgia as the final stop of their bipartisan congressional delegation in Eastern Europe. During the meeting with PM Irakli Garibashvili the US senators discussed the Georgia-US strategic partnership as well as Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations and the importance of Black Sea security.
A congressional delegation led by US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and including Senator Rob Portman, will visit Georgia next week to reaffirm US commitment. Shaheen and Portman will visit Georgia to send a bipartisan message that the United States stands with the people of Georgia in their efforts to strengthen their democracy.
The European People’s Party (EPP), which is the largest group in the European Parliament, calls on the Georgian government ‘to improve the political environment’ as well as to guarantee free and fair elections in the second round of the municipal elections and ‘to stop the persecution of political opponents’.