OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President says parliamentary election in Georgia offered “wide choice of options”

Pia Kauma, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, on Friday said parliamentary elections held last month in Georgia offered voters a “wide choice of options where the candidates could campaign freely”.

In an article published by Euronews, Kauma noted she had “recently led” two election observation missions tasked to observe October general elections in Georgia and presidential elections in the United States held earlier this month, adding she worked with other international partners to “issue authoritative statements on the recent elections”.

In Georgia, where I was also the leader in the previous election, I saw harsh polarisation between the parties but also an election that offered voters a wide choice of options where the candidates could campaign freely”, she said.

The more than 500 international observers from 42 countries that contributed to this mission have helped the Georgian people gain insight into how their new Government got to power and have provided directional guidance on shortcomings in the electoral process to be addressed in the future”, she added.

The official also noted she had already offered the newly elected Georgian authorities the OSCE PA availability to “engage constructively to address in the new legislature the recommendation” that would “emanate from the ODIHR Final report”, which would be “soon available”.