Displaying items by tag: International Republican Institute

IRI Releases Georgia Technical Assessment Mission Final Report

Published in Society

Friday, 12 March 2021 12:43

RI Final Election Report Reveals Increased Participation, Need for Continued Reforms.

Tbilisi, Georgia – Demonstrating its support for Georgia’s recent democratic advancements, the International Republican Institute (IRI) organized a Technical Election Assessment Mission (TEAM) to assess the country’s parliamentary elections in October 2020. Drawing from expert observations before, during and after Election Day, IRI has released its final report, informed by six long-term analysts (LTAs) deployed to Georgia between September and November 2020.

“This October, Georgians took to the polls for the first time since passing key reforms to enhance the transparency and competition of future elections,” said IRI Regional Director for Eurasia Stephen Nix. “Though far from perfect, the reforms marked a milestone for Georgia and brought forth a more democratic and pluralistic pre-election period than in years past.”

During the mission, the LTAs engaged with government officials, political parties, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and election-commission officials to assess the election administration, campaign environment, legal framework, political inclusion and media space. Ultimately, the mission observed an electoral process that was mostly peaceful and competitive, and more politically diverse and transparent than previous parliamentary elections.

However, IRI’s TEAM report also found that though the Central Election Commission achieved success in educating and mobilizing voters amidst COVID-19, there were administration issues that impeded the integrity of the process. In addition, though voter turnout saw a marked increase since the 2016 elections, other irregularities did emerge during the electoral process.

The mission urges Georgian stakeholders to consolidate the democratic gains made prior to the 2020 elections by addressing the shortcomings identified by international observers and prioritize their recommendations.

Follow the link for the full report: https://bit.ly/3v92Er7

CEC CHAIRPERSON MET WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE’S OBSERVATION MISSION

Published in Politics

Friday, 29 July 2016 17:50

Tamar Zhvania, the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) held the meeting with the representatives of the observation mission of International Republican Institute (IRI). The Chairperson shared information on the preparation process for the 2016 Parliamentary Elections with the observers.
“Election Administration will fully support free environment for the international observation missions”- stated Ms. Zhvania. She also shared the information with media about the topics discussed with the observers “We discussed with representatives of observer missions the process of registration of the political parties and the initiative groups. Also, issues regarding the voters lists and of course, boundary delimitation issues were as well discussed at the meeting“– said the CEC Chairperson while making comments with media representatives.
Within the visit, 14 Long-Term Observers of IRI (from 10 countries) are holding the meetings with representatives of various Media Organizations, State Audit Office, Inter-agency Task Force for Free and Fair Elections and Local NGOs. Observers will monitor the development of electoral processes in various regions during the 3 months period. The mission will continue the observation in case of second tour of elections.