On Sunday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze responded to the Organis\zation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) report, stating that it “proves the elections were held successfully and that all the allegations by the radical opposition have been refuted.”
Kobakhidze highlighted the difficulties faced by the domestic opposition in the past week, referencing the recent visit by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and the release of the OSCE/ODIHR’s final report on Georgia’s October parliamentary elections.
The Prime Minister addressed several key allegations made by the opposition and President Salome Zurabishvili. He particularly focused on what Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, called “five lies,” which he claimed had been exposed by the OSCE/ODIHR report. Kobakhidze emphasized that these allegations were part of a “revolutionary scenario” concocted by the opposition.
The first accusation concerned marks on ballots that had allegedly been leaked. Kobakhidze pointed out that the OSCE/ODIHR report did not consider this a substantive issue, noting that 76% of polling stations had no problems, and only isolated incidents were mentioned elsewhere.
Kobakhidze also addressed the issue of voting by Georgian citizens living abroad. The OSCE/ODIHR, he said, did not consider this issue relevant, effectively refuting the opposition’s claims on this matter. He also dismissed the allegations about unopened polling stations abroad, noting that the OSCE/ODIHR did not regard these accusations as relevant either.
Another significant claim Kobakhidze refuted was the accusation of 300,000 rigged votes and “carousel voting” — the practice of voting multiple times. Zurabishvili had also claimed that the same electorate had voted 17 times. Kobakhidze stressed that these allegations were “completely disproved” by the OSCE/ODIHR report and were not considered relevant.
Kobakhidze further addressed accusations of Russian interference, pointing out that there was no mention of such interference in the OSCE/ODIHR report. Similarly, the Prime Minister explained that while some isolated cases of violence at polling stations were mentioned in the report, the broader claims of electoral violence made by the opposition were denied.
In terms of re-elections, Kobakhidze outlined three “concrete grounds” under Georgian constitutional law. He explained that re-elections could only be called if the Central Election Commission (CEC) or the judiciary, including the Constitutional Court, invalidated the election results. Since the CEC had confirmed the results and all complaints were considered by the courts, there was no legal basis for new elections, he argued.
Additionally, the Prime Minister pointed out that the expiry of Parliament’s four-year term — the second condition for calling new elections — did not apply in this case. The third condition, which would involve Parliament voting no confidence in the government, was also absent, since Parliament had declared confidence in the current government. Therefore, Kobakhidze concluded, there were no grounds for re-elections.
