Georgian Parliament Speaker highlights key findings of OSCE/ODIHR report, revealing “five major lies” of domestic opposition

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Saturday highlighted the OSCE/ODIHR's final report on the October 26 elections, asserting that it dismantled the domestic opposition’s allegations of election fraud and reinforced the ruling Georgian Dream party's position on the electoral process.

In his remarks over the matter, Papuashvili welcomed the findings, which, according to him, exposed “five major lies” perpetuated by the opposition, highlighting the report’s validation of the election’s competitive and well-organised nature, while addressing its critiques and recommendations.

“I would like to present the key conclusions from OSCE/ODIHR's final report on the parliamentary elections, which, as anticipated, align with the assessments of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the criteria for competitive and free elections. It is significant that OSCE/ODIHR expresses readiness to cooperate with Georgia's elected Government to further improve the electoral environment and procedures. First and foremost, I would like to highlight that the final report reiterates the main conclusion of OSCE/ODIHR's preliminary report, which stated that on October 26, voters had a broad choice, and political parties were able to campaign freely. It underlined that the campaign was conducted in a calm environment, with reports of “isolated incidents of violence” received from both the ruling [Georgian Dream] party and the opposition”, the Speaker said.

Papuashvili noted that the report had commended the Central Election Commission for conducting well-managed elections, promptly announcing results, and fostering transparency, saying that over 90 percent of polling stations received positive evaluations on election day, with consistent results across electronic and manual vote counts.

“The report particularly commends the election administration for the well-organised and managed elections. The Central Election Commission received praise from OSCE for promptly announcing the election results, while the State Services Development Agency was acknowledged for efficiently compiling the voter list. The report also notes that on election day, the voting process at over 90 percent of polling stations was assessed positively, and in all 73 electoral districts the handling of electoral documentation was evaluated favourably", Papuashvili continued.

The Speaker detailed five major allegations by the opposition that the OSCE/ODIHR report refuted.

“[...] I present the five main lies exposed by OSCE/ODIHR, which the radicals built their revolutionary scenario upon: Unopened polling stations abroad - the false narrative about restricting the voting rights of citizens abroad was debunked. OSCE/ODIHR did not even mention this issue, putting an end to the speculation. 300,000 fraudulent votes - the claim of 300,000 fabricated votes was entirely refuted. The report found no evidence of manipulation, fraud, or voter list inaccuracies. Voting 17 times with the same ID - allegations about duplicate registrations and multiple votes using the same ID were invalidated by both independent audits and the OSCE/ODIHR report. Russian interference - no evidence of Russian interference was found, contrary to claims made by some opposition leaders. Ballot marking leakage - the myth about widespread ballot marking leakage was disproven. OSCE/ODIHR observed this issue in only 6 percent of cases, and even then, it was deemed to have only a potential, not actual, impact on vote secrecy. With this report, the radical opposition’s campaign to undermine Georgian democracy and disenfranchise over a million voters has been thoroughly debunked”, he noted.

The Speaker accused the opposition of undermining democracy by spreading disinformation, and criticised the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) for failing to publish the results of its parallel vote tabulation, which he claimed fuelled false narratives.

“The behaviour of ISFED also made it into the report. ISFED refused to publish the results of its parallel vote tabulation, laying the groundwork for false narratives about discrepancies between printed and uploaded protocols. To this day, we await the publication of this document, but to no avail. Notably, no other observer included this fact in their report either”, Papuashvili noted.

The Parliament Speaker, further, acknowledged the OSCE/ODIHR's recommendations, including improvements to voting secrecy, polling station layouts, and electoral material design, expressing the Government’s commitment to addressing these recommendations in collaboration with international partners.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Friday extended his gratitude to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights for its “proper” assessment of the parliamentary elections held in the country.

The Central Election Commission of Georgia on Friday highlighted the OSCE/ODIHR’s final report on the October 26 parliamentary elections, which confirmed the elections had been well-administered.