TBILISI, DFWatch – Poland will send observers for the parliamentary elections in Georgia.
The Polish observers will come as part of the EU, OSCE and Council of Europe’s separate observer missions.
Earlier, a Georgian lawmaker from the ruling party said Russia might be planning to send observers to Georgia to destabilize the situation. Because of this, the party of President Saakashvili, which controls an absolute majority in parliament, introduced a ban against election observers from any country that does not recognize Georgia’s sovereignty and laws.
The number of observers from ‘friendly’ countries, on the other hand, should be increased, Speaker of Parliament Davit Bakradze said today.
“The more people who arrive from friendly countries to observe the elections, the better it is for Georgian democracy,” Bakradze said.
Georgia is to hold parliamentary elections in October.
The deployment of Polish observers was one of the topics during a visit by Bogdan Borusewicz, Marshal of the Polish Senate.
Bakradze said topics during his meeting with the Polish delegation were the problem of the occupied territories, Georgian-Russian relations and future relations between Georgia and Poland.
Borusewicz said they also discussed Georgia’s integration with NATO and the EU. He added that Poland supports Georgia’s aspirations for such integration. He also said he hoped that a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement between Georgia and the EU will be signed at the Eastern Partnership summit in fall 2013, and that negotiations about visa-freedom will continue in July.
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