Foreign observers praise elections held in Georgia

In Georgia, the municipal elections were held in a quiet environment with a minimum number of violations. This was reported by observers representing different countries, the European Union and the Council of Europe (CoE). However, the observers mention the need for the authorities' response to the allegations of pressure on the candidates. Besides, they call on to review the voting procedure and to make electoral precincts accessible for people with disabilities.

According to observers from NGOs "Georgian Association of Young Lawyers" and "Multinational Georgia", during the voting, there were cases of attacks on observers and electoral precincts, falsification of signatures and threats towards observers.

Despite the earlier predictions on particular incidents, the elections to the self-administration agencies in Georgia were held in a peaceful and tranquil environment. This was reported by Jos Vinnen, the head of the delegation of the Regional Congress of the Council of Europe (CoE), who spoke on the behalf of the delegation.

Mr Vinnen has noted that in Georgia, political rivals had equal access to the media; the electorate, in particular, public servants, did not feel any pressure, and the Georgian leaders put quite a lot of effort to prevent falsification.

According to Mr Vinnen, the Georgia's electoral legislation still needs improvements, in particular, in terms of opening more opportunities for small parties and independent candidates to participate in the political system, the "Georgia Online" reports.

See earlier reports: "Members of "Georgian Dream" and "UNM" welcome second round of mayoral election in Tbilisi", "Four UNM activists hospitalized in Georgia after attack of unidentified persons", "In Adzharia, Gurta villagers to boycott local government elections in protest against HPP construction".