Georgia Elections Assistance Programme

On 15 April 2004 the Georgia Elections Assistance Programme came to an official end with staff leaving or returning to their normal duties within the Mission. Through the month of May a skeleton team will remain to complete financial and narrative reporting on the GEAP programme as well as to provide assistance to national implementing partners in fulfilling their reporting requirements to the Mission.

28 March 2004, Tbilisi, Georgia. Voting for a better future. Photo by Steven Weinberg.

28 March 2004, Tbilisi, Georgia. Voting for a new parliament. Mission photo.

The second phase of the assistance provided by OSCE Participating States through the Georgia Elections Assistance Programme (GEAP) culminated with the elections on 28 March 2004. On Election Day the GEAP fielded seven teams, observing more than 60 election commissions from 13 different districts covering several regions of Georgia. In addition, Tbilisi based activities of the CEC and domestic election observer organizations were closely monitored. The teams focused on observing the impact of GEAP funded activities on the conduct of the vote. On matters targeted through GEAP projects, particularly noteworthy impact were observed in the functioning of election commissions, the public information campaign, the conduct of police officers and the application of voter marking.

TBILISI, 16 Mar 2004 - Under two agreements signed today OSCE (GEAP) made a total of 170,000 euros available to fund part of the Central Election Committee's (CEC) Voter Information Campaign and Voter Marking activities. The first activity will support the CEC to raise public awareness and the second protect the integrity of the elections through voter marking, which will prevent multiple voting. The agreements were signed by the CEC Chairperson, Zurab Chiaberashvili, and the Head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia, Ambassador Roy Reeve.

"We are very grateful for the speedy and successful assistance by the OSCE for both presidential and now parliamentary Elections. In the future, we hope the OSCE will also help carry forward sound reforms of the election administration, as laid out in our recent concept paper," Tchiaberashvili said at the signing ceremony.

"These agreements mark the culmination of this phase of short-term assistance provided through the OSCE. We now look forward to working closely with the CEC on sustainable long-term reforms," Ambassador Reeve said.

TBILISI, 17 Feb 2004 - Georgian Minister of Finance Mr. Zurab Nogaideli, and Ambassador Roy Reeve, Head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia, signed the Agreement on the Replenishment of the Expenses of the Government of Georgia for the Parliamentary Elections on 28 March 2004, in the amount of 1 million Euros. The project will fund basic election administration operational costs and, in this way, support the Central Election Commission with resources to administer the elections in an effective manner.

Phase I Presidential Elections

Phase II Parliamentary Elections

TBILISI, 13 Feb 2004 - The three short-term consultants meet with international partners (UNDP, EU, IFES, NDI)

12 February GEAP representatives met with the designated OSCE counterpart in the Georgian Ministry of Foreign affairs. The Head of GEAP presented the proposed outline for OSCE post-Parliamentary elections assistance (Phase III of the GEAP). The Deputy Director of the Department for International Organizations expressed his full support and appreciation for the OSCE initiative in this field and welcomed further steps in this regard.

11-19 February GEAP is hosting three short-term consultants who will conduct a detailed needs assessment on the requirement for post-parliamentary electoral assistance to be rendered through a third phase of the GEAP. Based on information gathered from key national players and in close interaction with other international players the consultants will provide recommendations by the end of February on the form and extent of a GEAP Phase III.

 8 February - In preparation for the Parliamentary Elections scheduled for 28 March, the Mission has prepared an outline of activities to be implemented in the framework of Phase II of the Georgia Elections Assistance Programme. This outline includes project descriptions overarching four main programmatic areas such as capacity building for election administration bodies, domestic observation, voter education and capacity building for the Civil Registration Department of the Ministry of Justice.       

4 January 2004 Presidential Elections

Presidential front-runner Mikheil Saakashvili with a golden rose on Election Day.  Photo: Steven Weinberg

OSCE Chairman Welcomes Peaceful Presidential Elections in Georgia

PHASE I of the Georgia Elections Assistance Programme culminated when Presidential Elections were held in Georgia on 4 January 2004.

Former President Eduard Shevardnadze voting on 4 January 2004.  Photo: Steven Weinberg

The assistance provided by OSCE participating States within the framework of the Georgia Elections Assistance Programme has enabled the timely transfer of funds from the Ministry of Finance of Georgia to the election administration bodies, to cover salaries of election officials. This has provided a crucial contribution to realizing Presidential Elections within an extremely tight timeframe.  Moreover, the Programme has enabled the civil society to play an important role in promoting much needed confidence of the public in the electoral process, through domestic observation, training and media campaigns. 

Statement of the CEC Chairman, 8 January 2004
“Without the strong will of the international community to support the young Georgian democracy, the Georgian people and government would have faced very serious problems in attempting to conduct the Mid-Term Presidential elections in accordance with the timeframes established by the Constitution. I would like to thank donor countries and international organizations for providing the immediate and effective financial and technical support and consultations. It is very difficult for me, as a citizen of Georgia, to find enough words to express my appreciation for the enormous moral support which the democratic world has expressed towards Georgia.” (see full text)

OSCE Press Conference in Tbilisi, 19 December
TBILISI, 19 December 2003 - As of today, almost four million euros have been pledged by 17 OSCE participating States for the "Georgia Elections Assistance Programme", said the Head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia, Ambassador Roy Reeve. (see full text)