OSCE long-term observers deployed in Adjara Autonomous Republic to monitor pre-election situation left the region after the crisis broke out between the central and local authorities.
“They are temporarily out of Adjara for security reasons and it is not decided yet whether they are going back or not,” Lucia Scotton, a spokesperson of the OSCE Election Observation Mission told Civil Georgia on March 16.
Chairman of the Georgian Central Election Commission Zurab Tchiaberashvili expressed concerns on March 16 regarding the tensions in Adjara and cast doubts over holding of free and fair elections in the Autonomous Republic.