OSCE Opens Election Observation Mission

(Tbilisi, September 9, 2003, Civil Georgia) – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today officially launched large-scale, long-term activities to monitor the parliamentary elections in Georgia scheduled for November 2.

At the invitation of the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ODIHR will monitor the election process before, during, and after Election Day with one of the longest and largest observation missions ever deployed to an OSCE country.

“The forthcoming elections are crucial for the future democratic developm!
ent of Georgia”, said Julian Peel Yates, the Head of the Observation Mission.

“It is now the responsibility of all actors involved in the elections, including the authorities, political parties, and civil society at large, to ensure a democratic electoral process,” he added.

He said 21 long-term observers in the regions will closely monitor and analyze the entire electoral process.

“We will analyze the campaigning done by the political parties, the work of the election administration and of the local authorities, the media, the legal framework, as well as Election Day and the appeals procedures,” Julian Yates stated.

Some 400 short-term observers will be deployed throughout the country shortly before Election Day to monitor the voting, the vote count, and the tabulation of results.