MEPs: Georgian elections raise further concerns about democratic backsliding

The conduct of Saturday’s election causes deep concern about the democratic backsliding in Georgia said the Head of the European Parliament observation delegation Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE (EPP, ES) in his statement at a press conference in Tbilisi on Sunday.

Efforts to undermine and manipulate the vote

On the election campaign, the European Parliament representative said that “the Georgian people were presented with stark choices. The ruling party claimed that choosing between itself and the opposition was a choice between peace and war, whereas the opposition presented it as a referendum on Georgia’s geopolitical orientation”. He added that during the electoral campaign, the ruling party used anti-Western and hostile rhetoric, targeting Georgia’s democratic partners, in particular the European Union, its politicians and diplomats, promoted Russian disinformation, manipulation and conspiracy theories.

Mr López-Istúriz White said that although outwardly the campaign was quite subdued, there were signs that efforts were underway to undermine and manipulate the vote. “Once again, there were reports of misuse of public resources and administrative capacity for the benefit of the ruling party, pressure exerted on civil servants to participate in campaign events and vote. We were alerted by various interlocutors about confiscation of identification documents. There were examples of institutions such as the newly-established Anti-Corruption Bureau being instrumentalised for political purposes during the campaign. All of the above measures taken together paint a clear picture of a sophisticated, widespread and well-orchestrated scheme”, said Antonio López-Istúriz White.

He expressed particular concern about the reports of the violence, intimidation, hate speech, persecution and repression against the opposition, civil society and independent media.

“This democratic choice is a fundamental right and taking legal steps to ban opposing parties is unacceptable for a democracy. We will continue to support democratic aspirations of the Georgian people”, concluded the Head of the European Parliament election observation delegation.

The climate of hatred and intimidation

“We fear that the climate of hatred and intimidation we witnessed on the Election day could seriously undermine the political process in Georgia. It is important that the reported violations during the election day are investigated and addressed” said the MEP.

“Our European Parliament teams witnessed in some precincts high tension, confusion and chaos, in one case – ballot box stuffing, physical assault on observers attempting to report on violations, observer and media removal from polling stations, tearing up of observer complaints, intimidation of voters inside and outside of polling stations, presence of multiple party-affiliated observers posing as citizen observers, furthermore voting secrecy was not always ensured”, described the Head of the delegation the atmosphere on the election day.

You can read the full statement here.

The parliamentary delegation, composed of the MEPs below, observed the electoral process within the framework of the OSCE/ODIHR International Election Observation Mission, focusing on Georgia’s adherence to international and regional standards as per its commitments:

Along Mr Antonio López-Istúriz White, the European Parliament observation delegation was composed of MEPs Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Pierre PIMPIE (PfE, FR), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Markéta GREGOROVÁ (Greens/EFA, CZ), Hans NEUHOFF (ESN, DE) and Fidias PANAYIOTOU (NI, CY).