OSCE Secretary General meets Georgian Prime Minister Kobakhidze in Tbilisi

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioğlu arrived in Tbilisi on Tuesday, in his first visit since the October parliamentary elections widely seen as flawed. The OSCE/ODIHR’s own observer mission has criticised the government’s handling of the October 2024 elections.

On Wednesday, Sinirlioğlu met with the Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.

According to the Georgian government, the meeting focused on cooperation with the OSCE, the current situation in the region, and ‘the challenges facing Georgia’.

‘The Prime Minister thanked the OSCE Secretary General for visiting Georgia and maintaining close cooperation’, the statement said, adding that they discussed the current situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

‘Georgia’s commitment to democratic principles, human rights, and the rule of law was reaffirmed’, the government said.

‘Special attention in the meeting at the government administration was paid to the importance of peace and stability in the South Caucasus region, and Georgia’s efforts to this end. As it was pointed out, it is important that the OSCE remain the key platform for dialogue on the architecture of European security’.

Sinirlioğlu’s visit to Georgia comes during a now monthslong political crisis which follows October’s parliamentary elections. According to official results, Georgian Dream secured a large majority, with 54% of the vote.

What OC Media observed during Georgia’s election

OC Media collected evidence and first-hand accounts of an array of violations on the Georgian parliamentary election day. On the election day, OC Media dispatched a dozen journalists into several regions of Georgia to monitor the voting and counting process. The following details only the violations witnessed first-hand by our reporters. The violations varied from pressure and intimidation to outright vote buying. Groups of men patrolling the outside of polling stations were a universal occu

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On Wednesday, Sinirlioğlu also met with representatives of the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC), the chair of the commission, Giorgi Kalandarishvili, and his deputy, Giorgi Sharabidze.

According to the CEC statement, Kalandarishvili ‘delivered a detailed overview of the 26 October parliamentary elections and the large-scale implementation of electronic technologies. Existing challenges of the mentioned elections were also discussed at the meeting’.

The statement claimed that upcoming municipal elections scheduled on 4 October ‘were also a key topic of discussion during the meeting’.

On 18 April, US Congressperson Joe Wilson, who is also the co-chair of the Helsinki Commission, urged Sinirlioğlu to refrain from visiting Georgia.

In a letter published on X, Wilson stated ‘any visits to the illegitimate [Bidzina] Ivanishvili regime would only be misrepresented as an endorsement of their tyrannical takeover. We must stand with the Georgian people!’

On his first day of visit, on Tuesday, Sinirlioğlu held his first meeting with Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili. The main points made by him  at the joint briefing were related to the stability of the region and the resolution of conflicts through dialogue.

Sinirlioğlu stated that the OSCE supports both Georgia and all other countries in the region.

‘The OSCE Secretary General’s Visit to Georgia is a significant message and a step forward’, Botchorishvili said.

According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry statement, during the meeting, they reviewed the current situation in the region and ‘the challenges facing Georgia’.

‘Particular attention was drawn to the fact that two regions of Georgia — Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) — remain under Russian occupation, thus violating the country’s territorial integrity’, the statement read.

The statement said that the meeting also focused in particular on ensuring peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

‘The Minister highlighted Georgia’s active role in this regard, including the recent trilateral meeting hosted in Tbilisi between the foreign ministries of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia’.

Botchorishvili claimed that Georgia respects the independence of the OSCE’s institutions and their mandates.

‘She declared it unacceptable for certain actors to attempt to manipulate these institutions for narrow political interests aimed at undermining the sovereignty of member states’.

Sinirlioğlu, according to the Foreign Ministry’s statement, said that the purpose of his visit was to reaffirm the organisation’s support not only for Georgia, but also for the wider region.

‘We highly value our longstanding partnership with Georgia. The Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), now in its sixteenth year, continues to hold regular meetings in Ergneti and stands as a clear example of how dialogue can yield tangible results for people living in conflict-affected areas’, he said.

‘Our joint work with the EU and the UN demonstrates that our effective and multifaceted engagement contributes significantly to mediation efforts.

The Foreign Ministry said that Sinirlioğlu will also meet with other officials of the ruling Georgian Dream party during his visit.

On Tuesday, Sinirlioğlu visited the village of Odzisi, near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) between Georgia and South Ossetia.

On 20 December, the OSCE/ODIHR issued its final report on the 26 October parliamentary elections.

Renewed calls for repeat vote in Georgia after critical OSCE observation report

The OSCE/ODIHR final report stated that Georgian authorities had failed to address ‘widespread concerns about the integrity of election results’.

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In a press release, the OSCE noted that concerns regarding the impact of recently adopted legislation on fundamental freedoms and civil society, steps to reduce the independence of institutions involved in the electoral process, and pressure on voters together with election-day practices, ‘limited the ability of some voters to vote without fear of retribution’.

‘Procedurally, election day was generally orderly administered but marked by a tense atmosphere and widespread intimidation of voters, as well as of citizen observers’, the report said.

The OSCE also said the observer mission ‘does not recognise or endorse elections’ but ‘provides a comprehensive and impartial assessment of the electoral process based on universal principles, international obligations, and the commitments to hold democratic elections made by all OSCE states’.

Meetings with opposition parties and civil society organisations have not been announced.

The Georgian opposition has not expressed any particular protest against Sinirlioğlu’s visit.

Nonetheless, commenting on the visit, Levan Sanikidze, a member of the opposition group Unity — National Movement, said ‘it would be better if this visit did not happen’.

‘But we have cases when, if necessary, the West talks to Hezbollah and Hamas and somehow conveys messages to the Georgian Dream, whose main goal is to defuse the political crisis in this country, hold new elections and release political prisoners’.

‘However, we believe that additional propaganda fodder from the West should not be provided to [Georgian] Dream, but since this decision has been made, I am sure that the messages of holding new elections, releasing political prisoners and easing the political crisis will be directly raised at the meeting. But it would be better if these messages were not conveyed to [Georgian] Dream in this form’.

Sanikidze claimed that representatives of such organisations usually come for negotiations to try to bring the government back to the critical point called the abolition of visa liberalisation.

Georgian Dream moves to downplay importance of EU visa-free travel

The comments come as the EU’s moves to update the mechanism for suspending visa-free travel to third countries.

OC MediaMikheil Gvadzabia