“It was expected that, after the aggression and attacks the OSCE/ODIHR faced during the parliamentary elections, they would not engage in the local elections,” stated Vice Speaker of Parliament Nino Tsilosani.

According to Tsilosani, the OSCE/ODIHR letter regarding the issue was a formal response to deadlines.

“It was expected that, after the aggression and attacks the OSCE/ODIHR faced during the parliamentary elections, they would not engage in the local elections. Let us recall the protests during the visit of High Representative Pia Kauma, when opposition parties sent her a joint letter urging her not to come. There were also negative statements against OSCE/ODIHR from both inside and outside the country.

Regarding the deadline mentioned in their letter, this was merely a formal response. Naturally, the OSCE/ODIHR could not openly state that they were concerned about the local “orcs” and the unhealthy political environment, including the gross interference in the pre-election campaign organized by radical groups.

It is clear that the OSCE/ODIHR would have noted the violations observed during the past two days in its report. Taking all this into account, their decision to avoid participating in the mission becomes understandable. Moreover, local elections are not usually of the scale or workload that the OSCE/ODIHR typically engages in.

We had already explained this earlier, while also emphasizing that we would extend an invitation in order to avoid speculation. Could the invitation have been sent earlier? Certainly not, because apart from the Georgian Dream, no other party had confirmed its participation in the elections. The opposition was still arguing among themselves, questioning whether they would participate at all, and even turning against one another.

If Georgian Dream were the only party in the elections, inviting international observers would have made little sense. However, once our radical opponents also entered the race, it became logical to invite the OSCE/ODIHR,” Tsilosani said.