Tbilisi: Rati Bregadze, Georgia’s Justice minister met with Eoghan Murphy head of OSCE/ODIHR. OSCE (Organisations for Security and Co-operation in Europe) establishes its monitoring mission in September in Georgia.
This was opened to ensure a fair and transparent election for Georgia’s Parliament which will be held on October 26, 2024. All the political parties have been running campaigns to form a new Government on full scale across the country as well.
At the meeting the Justice Minister discussed the successful practice of the interdepartmental commission for free and fair elections, whose mandate is to prevent and respond to violations of election legislation.
At the same time it was noted that the commission, working under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice not only reacts to alleged violations immediately but also proactively conducts media monitoring to detect possible election violations by any candidate or political party.
It is worth noting that both sides have confirmed their readiness for future cooperation on this occasion. The Deputy Minister of Justice Beka Dzamashvili, Head of the State Services Development Agency, Ketevan Betlemidze and Head of the Administration Department of the Ministry Manana Begiashvili, attended the meeting along with many other representatives of various ministries and agencies.
It is also essential to underline that on September 11, 2024, at the invitation of the Georgian government, the OSCE/ODIHR Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) opened an election observation mission to Georgia.
The main objective of this observation mission is to maintain full transparency in the entire election for parliament scheduled for October 26, 2024. The mission will assess the election’s compliance with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections and its compliance with national legislation.
The main opposition parties express fears about the transparency of the election. They also fear that the ruling party Georgian Dream may misuse the power to forcefully influence public opinion in their favour.
