EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell said he was glad that international election observer missions, including the European Parliament delegation, would monitor the runoff municipal elections on October 30.

The Ambassador added that four MEPs would arrive to observe the second round of the polls together with OSCE/ODIHR monitors.

“We have noticed some good things happen since the previous elections. We think that the legal framework of the elections has been strengthened, including the electoral reform as the follow up of the April 19 agreement. We also saw good and orderly, calm conduct mostly on Election Day. We hope that for the second round, it will be possible to build on that.

Also, at the same time, very clearly we saw the shortcomings during the first round of elections. We talked about intimidation, vote-buying, pressure on voters and politicians, as well as an unlevel playfield. Our strong message after the first round was that we are hoping that many of these issues would be corrected in the second round because, as we noted in our statement, we hope that these practices will not become the norm for elections here in Georgia.

I will not say too much about my assessments about the period between the first and second round of elections, because it will be ODIHR and our international observers to have a judgment on that,” EU Ambassador said.

The runoffs of Georgian municipal elections will be held in 20 constituencies on October 30.