Daniel Twining, President of the International Republican Institute (IRI) told Voice of America that strength of the Georgian democracy is essential for the country’s Euro-Atlantic aspiration and national security.

Voice of America published an article “IRI: Parties have to recognize results of presidential elections and begin preparations for 2020 elections.”

“In a democracy, no party can use long-term monopoly as political power. Institutional control and balance, free media and flexible civil society remain to be important elements. We expect to continue working with all democratic parties of Georgia in the future to strengthen democratic institutes and processes,” IRI President stated.

IRI evaluated the recent 2018 presidential elections and said that administering of elections was effective, and procedural violations and faults detected during the elections could not change the outcomes.

IRI also urged the political parties to complain against the results through legal channels since summoning for large-scale rallies will damage the essence of the democratic process. IRI called on Georgian political parties to recognize results of the elections and begin preparations for 2020 parliamentary elections.