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US Expresses Concern About Georgian Elections

David Gollust
State Department
05 Nov 2003, 21:18 UTC

The United States has taken its concerns about the elections in Georgia directly to President Eduard
Shevardnadze. The slow pace of ballot-counting from the parliamentary voting Sunday has added to
public doubts about the election process.

The United States has already complained that inaccuracies in registration lists may have
disenfranchised a large number of voters. And the U.S. ambassador in Tbilisi, Richard Miles, met
with Mr. Shevardnadze Wednesday to voice concern about the vote-counting process.

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli says Mr. Miles told the Georgian leader that a "timely,
transparent and accurate" tabulation of the vote is essential to restoring voter confidence, and that
the delay in reporting the count by the country's Central Election Commission raises serious
concerns in this regard:

"We urged President Shevardnadze to insure the integrity of the election and thereby bolster the
partnership between the two nations," he said.

The spokesman said the U.S. envoy pressed for the election commission to correct election-day
errors by throwing out "egregious" cases of fraud. He said Mr. Shevardnadze "understands the
seriousness" of U.S. concerns and would try to be responsive.