U.S. Embassy Statement

May 31

The United States Embassy in Georgia shares the initial assessment by OSCE/ODIHR and other international monitors and supports their primary conclusions. Georgia’s conduct of these elections marked evident progress over past polls and represents clear improvements toward international standards. Embassy teams observed technical improvements in the administration of the elections on election day, although we also observed irregularities in individual precincts in Kakheti, Kvemo Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Samegrelo.

We recognize the Central Election Commission’s efforts to improve transparency and responsiveness to electoral concerns. We highlight the commitment of the government’s interagency task force to engage political parties and civil society on elections-related issues. However, we also note reports during the campaign of the misuse of administrative resources, a lack of impartiality of media coverage, instances of intimidation of opposition parties and candidates, and inaccuracies in the voters’ list.

We look forward to continuing to work with the Georgian authorities, political parties and civil society to address these challenges and shortcomings. Additional improvements in both the administration of elections and the campaign climate will be essential to increase public confidence in democratic institutions and processes. Successful democratic parliamentary elections in 2012 and presidential elections in 2013 would result in the first peaceful, constitutional and democratic transition of presidential power in Georgia’s history.

The U.S. Embassy in Georgia fielded 19 teams to observe elections in Tbilisi and throughout the country. The Embassy seconded an additional three teams to support the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission to Georgia.