Pashinyian congratulates Kobakhidze on ruling party's victory in Georgian parliamentary elections
YEREVAN, 28 October. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message Sunday to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on the Georgian Dream party's impressive victory in the parliamentary elections, held on Saturday, the Armenian government's press service reported.
‘The consistent development of relations with Georgia is one of the foreign policy priorities of the Armenian government. I sincerely hope that in the coming years of your leadership in Georgia and thanks to our joint efforts, the cooperation between Armenia and Georgia will steadily develop and expand,’ Pashinyan said in his congratulatory message.
The Prime Minister also noted that the strategic partnership established between the two countries creates tangible opportunities for jointly addressing common challenges and enhancing stability, security and prosperity of the region.
According to the Georgian Central Election Commission, the ruling Georgian Dream party won the 26 October parliamentary elections with 54.08% of voters' support. The next four parties that passed the 5 per cent threshold are the Coalition for Change (10.92 per cent), the United National Movement (10.12 per cent), the Strong Georgia (8.72 per cent) and the For Georgia (7.76 per cent).
The International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) said Sunday that Georgia’s election took place in a “climate of hatred and intimidation” with multiple election violations and cases of violence, undermining the outcome of the vote that could decide the country’s future in Europe.
‘There were multiple concerns about the conduct of the election, including “the widespread climate of pressure, and party-organized intimidation,” vote buying and the impartiality of state institutions’, said Julian Bulai, head of the PACE delegation monitoring the polls.
The IEOM consists of the observers from the OSCE/ODIHR, The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the European Parliament (EP) and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. -0-
