08 December 2024,   13:16
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Findings of the OSCE/ODIHR over parliamentary elections were overall positive - Irakli Kobakhidze

The findings of the OSCE/ODIHR over parliamentary elections were overall positive. Such a statement made the Prime Minister of Georgia in the interview with Imedi TV.

“Overall, the OSCE/ODIHR report is positive, as far as the critical part is concerned, there are general phrases in this report, dealing with bribery, use of administrative resources, intimidation, etc. When it comes to stuffing ballots, we asked the monitoring mission how many cases there were, they responded that there were 2 cases. That is, out of 3,111 precincts, only 2 such cases were recorded. One case concerned a representative of the Georgian Dream, an investigation was immediately launched, the precinct was immediately closed, and the 2nd case referred to a person holding the Lelo party’s ballots, and even there this person was not given the opportunity to do so.

As for the bribery, out of 1000 polling stations, 10 cases were identified when someone was giving money to somebody. I don’t know if it happened or not, I’m not sure about that either, because many intriguers were involved in the election process, but let’s say it happened, that is, different observers saw 10 cases of someone giving money to someone. 10 cases of alleged bribery in a 1000 precincts, where 700,000 voters went. This shows that there was neither a systemic nor an essential problem in terms of voter bribery.

The recent OSCE/ODIHR practice from other countries is that the organization is no longer using the terminology of “free and fair elections” at all, as it often becomes a matter of speculation… The main thing is the overall content of the OSCE/ODIHR conclusion, the entire content is positive. When the press conference was held, its participants were directly speaking about the legitimacy of the elections, not only OSCE/ODIHR. The international observers were directly speaking about the elected Government, which means that the legitimacy of elections was recognised by international observers. No one objected to these statements during press conference”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.

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