International election observers in Georgia to hold press conference on Sunday

TBILISI, 7 October 2016 – The international observers monitoring the parliamentary elections in Georgia will present their preliminary post-election statement at a news conference on Sunday, 9 October, in Tbilisi.

The mission is a joint undertaking of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) and the European Parliament (EP).

The statement will be delivered by Ignacio Sanchez Amor, Special Co-ordinator and leader of the short-term OSCE observer mission, followed by Emanuelis Zingeris, Head of the PACE delegation, Guglielmo Picchi, Head of the OSCE PA delegation, Paolo Alli, Head of the NATO PA delegation, Ana Gomes, Head of the EP delegation, and Ambassador Alexandre Keltchewsky, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR long-term election observation mission.

The International Election Observation Mission comprises a total of 420 observers from 39 countries, including 324 long-term and short-term observers deployed by the OSCE/ODIHR, 38 parliamentarians and staff from the OSCE PA, 28 from PACE, 17 from the NATO PA, and 13 from the EP.

Journalists are invited to attend the press conference on Sunday, 9 October, at 15:00 in the Biltmore Hotel, 29 Rustaveli Ave., Tbilisi.

The press conference will be live streamed at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bDZCk3Tj59v,//www.osce.org/odihr and www.oscepa.org 

For further information, contact:

Thomas Rymer, OSCE/ODIHR, +995 595 126 333 or +48 609 522 266, thomas.rymer@odihr.pl 

Nat Parry, OSCE PA, +995 599 126 300 or +45 60 10 81 77, nat@oscepa.dk 

PACE Communication Division, +33 388 41 31 93

Andrius Avizius, NATO PA, +995 598 677 411, or +32 478 55 48 16, aavizius@nato-pa.int 

Karl Minaire, EP, +995 595 040 819 , or +32 470 88 41 28, karl.minaire@europarl.europa.eu