By Martin Banks - 7th January 2008
A group of MEPs have given a guarded welcome to the outcome of Georgia’s presidential elections at the weekend.
The Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili won the snap election in the former Soviet republic, which international monitors said they judged to be fair.
He gained 52.8 per cent of the vote, election officials said. Less than 50 per cent would have forced him into a second-round run-off vote.
Having visited more than 40 polling stations in three regions, a European parliament delegation said on Monday that, generally, it welcomed the elections.
According to French Greens MEP Marie-Anne Isler-Beguin, who led the delegation, “this election is another step forward in strengthening Georgia’s young and still fragile democracy.”
She said, however, that the delegation remains “concerned” by the overall conduct of the election campaign.
“This was conducted in a highly polarised environment, marked by a lack of trust and pervasive allegations of violations.”
On Sunday, the day of the election, the group was deployed in three regions of Georgia - Gori, Kvemo Kartli and Mzkheta as well as in the capital Tbilisi.
The cross-party delegation of seven deputies also included Šarunas Birutis, Jan Brezina, Ryszard Czarnecki, Arpad Duka-Zolyomi, Sa?d El Khadraoui and Jirí Mastalka.
They were in Georgia from 2 to 7 January.
Meanwhile, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation, Europe’s election monitoring body, said that, overall, the election was a “viable expression of the free choice of the Georgian people”.
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