NDI Mission to Assess Pre-Election Environment

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) will conduct a pre-election assessment mission to Georgia, a U.S.-based group, working on political party development and democracy programs in Georgia since 1994, said on Sunday.

“The delegation will assess the status of electoral preparations, the conduct of political activity by announced major electoral participants, and the general electoral environment through a series of meetings with government officials, parliamentary candidates, political party leaders, election authorities, and representatives of civil society, the media and the international community,” NDI said in a press release.

The delegation, which arrived in Georgia on June 24, includes NDI President Kenneth Wollack; Per Eklund, who was EU ambassador to Georgia in 2006-2010 and is now a senior fellow at the Institute for Security and Development Studies in Stockholm; former Congressman Sam Gejdenson; Secretary of State for Missouri Robin Carnahan; and Luis Navarro, NDI Senior Resident Country Director in Georgia.

The delegation will release a report highlighting its findings at the conclusion of the mission on June 29.