International observers spoke about the occupied territories of Georgia when presenting the preliminary report on Georgia’s 28 October presidential election.

Observers expressed concern that Georgian citizens residing in the occupied territories were not allowed to participate in the elections.

“I would like to express our concern toward the fact that Georgian citizens from the occupied territories, Abkhazia and South Ossetia were unable to participate in the elections” – Rasa Juknevičienė, Head of the delegation from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly said.

“We also regret that Russia’s occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the decision by the de facto local authorities to close the administrative border line with South Ossetia for the elections deprived many Georgian citizens from casting their ballots.” –  Laima Andrikienė, Head of the delegation from the European Parliament stated.

The International Observers of the OSCE, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) , the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PACE), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO (NATO PA) and the European Parliament (EP) presented a preliminary report on the elections of October 28 at Radisson Hotel.