Georgia's election administration Chair vows “continued cooperation” with observers as EU announces technical electoral mission

Giorgi Kalandarishvili, the Chair of Georgia’s Central Election Commission, on Monday pledged “continued cooperation” with domestic and international observers around general elections held last month in the country, after Josep Borrell, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, earlier this month announced the deployment of a “technical mission” to Georgia to address alleged electoral irregularities in the vote. 

The CEC has always promoted an inclusive process and ensured opportunities for exchanging information through close cooperation with observers”, Kalandarishvili claimed. 

Speaking about the specific mission, the official claimed a lack of clarity on its mandate and scope. 

Since at this stage we do not know the type of the technical mission, their mandate, or the object of their study, I am unable to confirm or deny specific details. However, we will continue to cooperate within all legal frameworks to provide objective information related to election administration”, Kalandarishvili said, adding it would be “premature” to make any assessments until more information was available.

In his statement last week, Borrell said the mission would address “irregularities” in the elections, which he claimed had demonstrated a “democratic backsliding” under the current Government.