CoE Calls for Free and Fair Parliamentary Elections in Georgia

Council of Europe Parliamentary President Peter Schieder today urged the Georgian authorities to act with the utmost responsibility and restraint in order to ensure the peaceful conduct of the 28 March parliamentary elections.

As regards Adjara, he said it was important to implement the recent agreement achieved between Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Leader of the Adjarian Autonomy Aslan Abashidze.

Peter Schieder invited on all those concerned to facilitate the deployment of national and international observers and encouraged election monitoring by Georgian party representatives.

Calling on voters to participate in the elections, Schieder said: “The Georgian people have shown more than once their political maturity and their commitment to our democratic and human rights principles on their sometimes difficult path towards democracy”. He hoped, in particular, that voters would not be discouraged by the 7% threshold for entering parliament. “In a democracy, every vote counts”, he stressed.

“Free and fair elections, including in Adjara, are a key pre-requisite for the development of a peaceful, prosperous and democratic future in a modern and stable Georgia”, he said.

 A 40-member enlarged delegation from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly will observe the parliamentary elections in Georgia on 28 March 2004 as part of an international election observation mission (IEOM).