President, Prime Minister Assess Elections

President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze assessed the October 28 presidential elections at special news briefings on Monday.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili

Giorgi Margvelashvili welcomed October 28 presidential elections as “active and competitive” that “resulted in the second round runoffs.”

He called on voters to cast ballots in the second round, because “it is very important for our democratic process.”

“People are the source of power and you feel it,” President Margvelashvili said, adding that he would not talk about political context of elections.

He also said that although elections were mostly calm and democratic, all those “shortcomings” identified by local and international election observers should be rectified.

Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze

Mamuka Bakhtadze believes the October 28 presidential elections were held in peaceful, free and democratic environment that is confirmed by the conclusions of international observation missions, and that it has become “a tradition” under the Georgian Dream’s rule.

The Prime Minister thanked local and international election observers, election administration and police for their work.

Bakhtadze stressed that the government received “a clear message” on its “mistakes”, public expectations and existing challenges that indicates that “much should be changed in the country in the shortest period of time.”

“This message has been accepted and understood. So, in the second round we will ensure unity, including of those supporters, who did not cast their ballots in the yesterday’s elections for various reasons,” Bakhtadze said, adding that “in the second round we will together celebrate the victory of those values for which we all struggled together.”

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