TBILISI, August 22 – Georgia’s upcoming local elections on October 4 may unfold with little outside oversight as OSCE is unlikely to deploy full team of observers this year.
The governing Georgian Dream (GD) party has said it is “indifferent” as to whether the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is invited, breaking with past practice.
OSCE has sent teams to conduct oversight at every local election here since 2006, and their absence this time would mark a significant departure. Domestic election watchdog ISFED, meanwhile, has announced it will not run a standard observer mission, citing what it sees as limited conditions for free and fair competition. ISFED is one of the foreign-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are impacted by the new foreign agent laws.
Analysts Rezonansi spoke to are split on what this means. Some warn that fewer observers could undermine international recognition of the results and further damage Georgia’s reputation abroad. Others argue that monitoring has little impact, since each side tends to dismiss or embrace reports depending on whether they confirm their own version of events.
Opposition groups insist that without credible observers, voters will have no guarantee that there won’t be fraud or other irregularities. They point to the political crisis after the 2024 elections, which many opposition parties refused to recognize.
Government supporters argue that elections in Georgia remain competitive and that groups like ISFED are exaggerating the problems for political reasons. They note that outside organizations will continue to track developments even if they are not present on the ground on election day.
