The Minister of Internal Affairs, VakhtangGomelauri held a meeting with the Head of Election Observation Mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Jillian Stirk.

The Mission’s office was opened in Tbilisi on September 25, 2020 upon an invitation from the Georgian authorities. The objective is the observation of the Parliamentary Elections to be held on October 31, 2020.

VakhtangGomelauri stated that the task of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the protection of legal order and ensuring the conduction of elections in free, democratic and safe environment and for this purpose, the Ministry is involved in the preparation procedures of the Parliamentary Elections.

The Minister of Internal Affairs provided the head of the mission with the information about the measures already implemented or planned in future, namely:

- The updated instruction/guidelines were adopted for employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia for the election period, which is obligatory to be observed by all the employees of the Ministry;

- For the purpose of conduction of elections in safe environment, the recommendations for the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia related to the infection caused be the New Corona Virus were elaborated.

On the basis of the respective order of the Minister of Internal Affairs, the groups responsible for the prevention of the violations of the law and for the response thereto will be formed in the police departments within their operating territory throughout the regions of Georgia. Besides, online training for the employees of the Ministry’s relevant structural units on issues related to ensuring the conduction of elections in free, democratic and safe environment is already launched in the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.