OSCE elections body report recommends improvements ahead of Georgia parliamentary polls

WARSAW, 4 March 2008 - The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) recommends improvements in the legal framework, the election administration, voter registration, campaigning and the media situation in its final report, released today, on the conduct of the 5 January presidential election held in Georgia.

"This report identifies the positive aspects noted by our observer mission, as well as a number of significant shortcomings that we urge the Georgian authorities to address in time for the parliamentary elections in May," said Ambassador Christian Strohal, ODIHR's Director.

The report also offers proposals with regard to the process of voting and counting, the tabulation and announcements of results, as well as complaints and appeal procedures.

The ODIHR has received an invitation from the Georgian authorities to observe the upcoming parliamentary elections and is planning to deploy a standard long-term observer mission several weeks ahead of election day.

"We join the OSCE Chairman-in-Office in his call on the Georgian authorities to make full use of the time left until the May elections to implement the recommendations included in the report in order to align all aspects of Georgia's electoral framework with OSCE commitments on democratic elections," Strohal said.

During a visit to Georgia last week, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva, urged Georgian leaders to seize on the forthcoming parliamentary elections to demonstrate that the country is maturing towards a pluralistic democracy.

The final report on the 5 January 2008 presidential election is available on the ODIHR website at www.osce.org/odihr.