Archil Gorduladze, a member of the parliamentary majority, expressed approval of the OSCE/ODIHR’s interim report regarding Georgia’s pre-election environment ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26.
Gorduladze emphasized that the OSCE/ODIHR’s positive evaluation, particularly of the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) operations, aligns with the governing party’s perspective.
He underscored several critical areas addressed in the OSCE/ODIHR report, including the legal framework, election administration, voter rights, media landscape, and the resolution of electoral disputes. He remarked that the pre-election campaign has unfolded in a peaceful and competitive atmosphere, characterized by isolated incidents of violations, yet devoid of systemic issues.
“The absence of violence, bribery, illegal use of administrative resources, and other systemic manipulations in the pre-election process is primarily attributable to the determined efforts of our government and the reforms we have enacted.
ODIHR highlights that the CEC is managing the electoral process effectively by conducting extensive information campaigns and adhering to all deadlines. We appreciate the CEC’s initiatives to keep voters informed and to streamline the use of new technologies,” stated Archil Gorduladze.
According to Gorduladze, the report also indicated advancements in areas such as the electoral list and candidate rights, reaffirming the beneficial effects of recent reforms.
However, Gorduladze criticized the OSCE/ODIHR interim report for failing to address what he described as the intentional obstruction of election clips from the Georgian Dream party by opposition media channels. He expressed disappointment that this issue was omitted from the report but remains hopeful it will be addressed in future assessments.
He noted that while the report recognized a diverse yet polarized media environment in Georgia, the actions of opposition channels breached Georgian legislation and created an imbalanced media landscape, resulting in the Georgian Dream party losing over five hours of advertising time. He stressed that this situation has caused irreversible damage to the party’s campaign efforts.
Gorduladze also pointed out that the report noted the death of “Georgian Dream” member Ermile Gigiadze, who was attacked by an activist from the National Movement.
“It is crucial for the international community to recognize the true nature of the opposition, which presents a façade of civility. It is also noteworthy that the report highlighted the fact that both the opposition and so-called local monitoring non-governmental organizations have not participated in the meetings of the inter-agency coordination commission. We have provided ODIHR representatives with additional information indicating that the majority of opposition parties did not sign the code of ethics developed by the CEC. We hope this issue will be included in the next report,” he remarked.
Gorduladze mentioned the mission’s concerns regarding the political motivations of local monitoring organizations.
“We presented the mission with evidence of the party affiliations and political objectives of various monitoring organizations. We trust that these details will be accurately reflected in the subsequent report,” he added.
Archil Gorduladze expressed his gratitude to the OSCE/ODIHR representatives for their continued efforts, underscoring the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to ensure that the final report is based on factual evidence rather than baseless accusations. He acknowledged the contributions of various government agencies, including the Central Election Commission, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Justice, in fostering a calm, fair, and professional electoral process.
Gorduladze urged all the stakeholders to refrain from artificially undermining the electoral process.
“These elections are taking place amid unprecedented external interference, with the opposition’s pre-election campaign effectively being conducted from abroad, which is utterly abnormal and unacceptable. We have provided ODIHR representatives with specific facts and evidence regarding these violations, and we hope that they will be adequately reflected in the final report,” Gorduladze concluded.
