The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has officially launched its observation mission for Georgia’s upcoming parliamentary elections on October 26, 2024.

At a press conference, mission head Eoghan Murphy thanked the Georgian authorities for their prompt invitation and outlined the mission’s activities.

“We have previously observed 17 elections in this country, most recently the 2021 local elections and this will be the 18th observation activity in the country.

Today, we had a meeting at CEC to introduce our team and explain mission activities. We will have meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs later today. We want to thank both the Ministry and the CEC for their cooperation. We look forward to continued cooperation in the coming weeks.

The mission consists of a core team of 12 international experts. The core team will be based in Tbilisi and we will have a temporary office for seven weeks. On September 17, 30 long-term observers will arrive and be deployed to 15 sites across the country. They will observe the election processes.

For election day, 350 short-term observers will arrive in Georgia. They will systematically observe the voting, the counting of ballots and the tabulation procedures at the polling stations across the country. Observers will closely monitor all key aspects of the elections, including developments before and after election day.

This will include observing administrative preparation, candidate registration, campaign activities and financing. Part of the observation is also the media environment, the coverage of the media and the legal framework, and dispute resolution mechanisms.

We will have many meetings with the electoral administration, political parties, civil society and the media,” Eoghan Murphy stated.

The head of the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission stated that one of the mission’s key tasks will be media monitoring, which will involve both quantitative and qualitative assessments.

Murphy also emphasized the mission’s commitment to impartiality, stating that the mission will assess the conduct of the elections for its compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation.