Number of international observers in Georgian elections decreased 13-fold - Media
Kyiv • UNN
81 international observers will work in the local elections in Georgia on October 4, which is significantly less than 1024 in 2021. The OSCE and reputable local NGOs refused to observe due to late invitation and legislative restrictions.
Only 81 international observers will work at the local elections in Georgia on October 4 – almost 13 times fewer than in 2021, when there were 1024 of them, UNN reports with reference to "News of Georgia".
Who is observing
Accreditation was received by 28 international organizations. The largest group was sent by the Serbian association ALTERFACT – 20 observers. 7 observers each were delegated by the Hungarian Embassy in Georgia and the Hungarian "Center for Fundamental Rights". Other organizations are represented by 1-3 observers.
In total, observers from 24 countries, including Jordan, Tunisia, Maldives, Turkey, Ethiopia, and Belarus, are observed in the lists of the CEC of Georgia.
Local observers
More than 7,000 local observers will monitor the elections. Most of them (about 6,000) represent two organizations that, according to media reports, are associated with the ruling party "Georgian Dream". These are the "International Observatory of Lawyers and Jurists" and the "Observatory of Politics and Law".
Who is not observing
This year, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) refused to send a mission to Georgia, citing a too late invitation from the Georgian authorities – less than a month before the elections.
There will also be no observers from local authoritative non-governmental organizations at the voting. Among them, for example, the "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" (ISFED), which has been monitoring in Georgia for the last 30 years.
Recall
Since the beginning of the year, the "Georgian Dream" has adopted a number of laws restricting the civil sector and media, including the law on "foreign agents", which provides for criminal liability for concealing foreign funding. Also, a ban on issuing foreign grants without government approval began to operate in the country.
The accounts of ISFED and up to ten other leading Georgian NGOs were frozen as part of the investigation into the "sabotage case". The prosecutor's office accuses them of helping demonstrators pay fines and legal protection, as well as equipping protesters with special means — gas masks, protective glasses, masks, and pepper spray.
The elections in Georgia will take place against the backdrop of a boycott by the largest opposition parties, which plan a large-scale protest action in Tbilisi on October 4. Their leaders — eight politicians at once — remain in prisons. Most received sentences for refusing to testify to the parliamentary commission created to investigate the alleged crimes of Mikheil Saakashvili's "United National Movement" (UNM) party, which was in power until 2012.