Municipal Elections, 30 May 2010

Following an invitation from Georgia's Foreign Ministry, ODIHR deployed an election observation mission on 15 April to observe the municipal elections on 30 May.

Headed by Ambassador Audrey Glover of the United Kingdom, the mission consisted of 14 experts and 24 long-term observers from 22 OSCE participating States, who were based in Tbilisi and 10 regional centers.

For election day, ODIHR joined efforts with a delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. Together, they deployed 203 short-term observers on election day.

According to the mission's final report: "The municipal elections marked evident progress towards meeting OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections. However, significant shortcomings remained including deficiencies in the legal framework, its implementation, an uneven playing field, and isolated cases of election-day fraud. The authorities and the election administration made clear efforts to pro-actively address problems. Nevertheless, the low level of public confidence, noted in previous elections, persisted. Further efforts in resolutely tackling recurring misconduct are required in order to consolidate the progress and enhance public trust before the next national elections."