Ahead of the October 26th parliamentary elections, the first fully proportional election in Georgia’s modern history, the Government has implemented a bold reform agenda to ensure the election is fair and professionally administered. Additionally, to hold ourselves accountable and build trust with the international community, Georgia has invited leading elections watchdogs to monitor our progress. Since 2012, Georgia has held multiple elections accurately reflecting the will of the Georgian people and 2024 will be no exception.
View our 2024 elections fact sheet here .
The Georgian people have long expressed their desire to live in a free and open Euro-Atlantic democracy, and to build on our past progress at achieving this dream, the Government instituted the reform recommendations of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR), the Venice Commission, and the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body GRECO. These reforms were aimed at further bringing Georgia’s election legislation and practice in line with the best European standards.
Furthermore, Georgia is partnering with Smartmatic, a U.S.-registered company that supplies elections technology to the U.S. and other leading democracies, to provide electronic voting devices for the parliamentary elections. These devices will expedite results, reduce human error, and enhance the accuracy of results – all while maintaining a paper trail to prevent cyber interference. Georgia is the first EU Eastern Partnership country to hold elections with technology like this, and more than 90% of all Georgia voters will vote using these state-of-the-art devices.
To show our commitment to transparency, the Government invited leading elections watchdogs from OSCE/ODIHR, NATO PA, PACE, OSCE PA, and the European Parliament to monitor our progress, and observation missions from the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute are already underway. In fact, various international and local election observation missions are currently registered with the Central Election Commission (CEC) to monitor the October elections. The CEC’s registration process for international and local observers continues in line with the deadlines defined by Georgian legislation, and the list of observer organizations will be updated accordingly.