Georgian PM: int’l monitoring missions have “made it clear no doubts, question marks” remain over legitimacy of elections

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Prime Minister of Georgia and the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party’s election staff, on Sunday claimed  a press conference involving heads of international monitoring missions on Sunday had “made it clear that there are no doubts or question marks” over the legitimacy of the parliamentary elections held on Saturday.

Kobakhidze’s comments came after Pascal Allizard, the Special Coordinator of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, on Sunday expressed his hope that Georgia’s newly elected Government would “bring the country closer” to its European integration goals.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze noted the press conference had emphasised that the vote had been a “competitive election”.

You probably watched the press conference, held with the participation of heads of international monitoring missions, and this press conference made it clear that there are no doubts or question marks regarding the legitimacy of the elections”, the PM said.

“The elections were competitive, the elections were in all respects [held] in accordance with electoral principles, and the statements that were made are absolutely logical. In addition, specific terms, in particular, ‘the elected Government’, were used when assessing these elections, which directly means recognising the elections as completely legitimate”, he continued.

He further thanked international monitoring missions for their engagement in the electoral process.

He said the authorities had been “absolutely open [for international observation], because the only thing we wanted was to hold absolutely free, competitive, democratic elections”.