Brussels, 06/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - CFSP High Representative Javier Solana commented on Monday on the presidential elections held the day before in Georgia. He noted that they "marked an important step in the democratic progress of Georgia". The International Observation Mission for these elections noted that there had been considerable progress made compared to previous elections. The high turnout was a major sign of the Georgian people's wish for a fresh start, Mr Solana added. Pointing out that he had congratulated Mikhaïl Saakachvili on the provisional electoral results, he gave his assurance that the EU would continue to back Georgia in its quest for "stability, democracy and prosperity".
MEP Per Gahrton (Greens/EFA, Sweden) also wished to congratulate the new Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, and, in his official capacity as Parliament observer to these elections, he said the elections had unfolded correctly. The election results were "without a doubt an expression of the Georgian people's desperate hope for an improvement to their situation", he explains in a press release. "In the small, snow-covered mountain villages in the Kacheti province where I observed the election, I did not see a single trace of impropriety. The election day was instead characterised by a carnival-like atmosphere. When votes were counted in the village of Godori the electoral committee's returning officer showed me a ballot where a voter, next to a mark for Saakachvili, had written in Russian 'I am all for him!'". Mr Gahrton went on to say: "Should the returning officer have been forced to reject that ballot? I did not have the heart to advise her to do so. Nor did I intervene when an alliterate old woman declared loudly that she wanted assistance to put a mark beside the name Saakachvili.". "It is now time for us to give the new Georgian democracy all the support we can. If not, the country risks facing a democratic backlash in a few year's time. Georgia's future must not be allowed to become a messy scramble between the United States and Russia. The European Union must act decisively and quickly and to support Georgia's new democracy", Mr Gahrton concluded.