02 January 2004

Tbilisi, Georgia: The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme has joined several other international organizations including, the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, and the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), to facilitate a free and fair presidential election in Georgia this weekend.

The election became necessary after the 02 November 2003 ballot was declared, “seriously flawed” by the Vienna-based OSCE. In the election aftermath, widespread political turmoil eventually lead to the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze on 23 November 2003.

The United Nations Volunteers programme together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) working as part of the Technical Assistance to Electoral Systems/Process in Georgia initiative deployed six UN Volunteers in the week before Christmas. Globally recognized as highly experienced in facilitating support mechanisms for electoral processes, UNV responded quickly to a request from the UNDP country office in Tbilisi to provide technical assistance in key areas such as, voter education and registration, support to media centers, as well as electoral monitoring and observation. Caius Suveti, a UNV administration officer in Tbilisi confirmed all necessary preparations have been completed and the infrastructure has been put in place to guarantee an election free of irregularities. On very short notice, UN Volunteers were recruited and dispatched to Georgia from Romania, Burundi, Ghana, Burma, the Philippines and New Zealand. Suveti said, “we had to leave our homes and families in a big rush with Christmas and New Year celebrations waiting at the door”.

At the same time, the UNDP’s role of facilitating high-level coordination of election-related activities, and development of Georgia’s Electoral Administration (EA) administrative capacity ensured full transparency, a perquisite for free and fair elections. Initially, the UNDP initiative was to provide support to the EA for the November parliamentary election however, due to the ensuing political turmoil the project was extended to cover the ad-hoc Presidential and Parliamentary elections that followed. In this regard UNV will continue to support UNDP Tbilisi during this period of transition in Georgia.