Ruling party official welcomes OSCE/ODIHR election assessment

Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday welcomed the assessment  by the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the country’s parliamentary elections last month.

Kaladze said the fact that the OSCE/ODIHR had not used the terms “fair and free” in relation to the Moldovan presidential election runoff on Sunday was explained by the fact that the body did not use such terms any more to assess elections.

“This terminology has not been used by the OSCE/ODIHR for several decades. This is a reality, this is a fact. The organisation presented a very good conclusion on our [parliamentary] elections. To be honest, we have been in elections since 2012, and there has never been such a calm election environment, where all political parties had the opportunity to conduct their election campaigns”, the official said.  

“The elections were multi-party, citizens had the opportunity to express their opinion in a calm environment. Perhaps there were isolated cases of confrontation, conflict - unfortunately, such facts happen all over the world - although these were isolated cases. Overall, the assessment made by the OSCE/ODIHR is welcome”, he concluded.

Observers from the OSCE/ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament last month commended what they called “largely peaceful” general elections in Georgia, and its “adequate legal framework” for holding “democratic elections”.