2018-09-19

William Sweeney, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) praises the pre-election environment in Georgia and believes that candidates have all the opportunities to run their campaigns in a competing environment. It was noted after a meeting with Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia today.

Discussions at the meeting were focused on the successful cooperation with IFES. William Sweeney noted that he takes great pride in working in Georgia and will continue supporting the country.

Prime Minister of Georgia expressed his gratitude to the President and CEO of IFES for his contribution to the development of the culture of democracy in the country and expressed willingness to actively cooperate in future.

Focus was made on the pre-election environment in Georgia. Prime Minister noted that Government will continue ensuring the free, democratic and transparent environment for presidential elections.

"I think that Georgia has a very proud tradition of democracy that encourages all citizens to have their voices heard and votes counted. The Central Election Commission of Georgia has done an exceptional job in terms of meeting the customer experience of voting. Voters' time is not wasted. The records are accurate. The votes are counted accurately and fairly. It has been my pleasure of being in Georgia a number of times in working for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. We have a great partnership with CEC. We have admired the work and progress made by the CEC in the delivery of the right to vote as a public service in Georgia. We look forward to continue that work in future. There is a good competition of candidates and ideas. We talked about that earlier today with the Prime Minister. It is a positive development that this competition is underway. I think it will be a good election on October 28" noted William Sweeney after his meeting with the Prime Minister of Georgia.

Prime Minister's Press Office