The President of Georgia met with the Chairman of the Central Election Commission – Zurab Melikishvili and spoke with him about the organizational issues of the preparatory period for the Parliamentary elections. According to Mikheil Saakashvili, based on the current law, Parliamentary elections will be held in October and the CEC has to prepare accordingly in the next 9 months. According to the Head of State, it is extremely important that the political parties reached consensus regarding the election code and the Venice Commission assessed it positively. The President also asked whether the CEC currently has any problems that the government can correct. The President considers that it is much harder to prepare for Parliamentary elections because there are many players involved in the process. As Zurab Kharatishvili explained to the President, the CEC is working based on the planned strategy, which will provide the organization for 4 elections before 2015. According to him, the main goal of the CEC is to gain people’s trust in the election process and results.

“I am glad that the Venice Commission gave a high mark to our election code. The only issue we did not agree on was whether it is necessary for small regions like Kazbegi or Lentekhi to have Deputies. Considering our historical and geographical differences, not having them is absolutely unacceptable. We received high marks regarding the rest of the issues, including the financing. It is extremely important that everything is based on solid international standards. 9 months are left until the elections and the more international observers (OSCE and other influential organizations) we involve in the process from the beginning, the better it is for us. 9 months is more than enough time to involve everyone in the process, for every party to prepare accordingly, and to inform the constituents about their program. In this case I am not talking as the leader of United National Movement, but it is important to me, as the President of a country, that we hold clean elections” – stated the President of Georgia.

Mikheil Saakashvili called the local elections successful because the international observers did not have any remarks. The President noted that this is also a merit of the Head of the Central Election Commission and expressed hope that he will be able to organize everything in the right way as a result of working with all the interested sides. As for the finances, the President noted that the state will allocate the necessary sum in order to conduct the process in a just and democratic way.

“Of course the main thing is human resources. Our people and the entire political specter have to be actively involved in this process. In the end, this should be a free expression of the will of the electorate. We will achieve this through an equal election process. In the end, this will be one of the main occurrences created by our epoch” – stated the President of Georgia.

The Head of State noted that the election process should not interfere with economic development and there should be a feeling of stability. As he said, this is a uniform indicator of the supply of resolve for our country.

Finally, the President thanked the Chairman of the Central Election Commission and his entire staff for working transparently and in the right way. According to him, it is very important that institutions, which are not dependent on specific persons have been created in the country.