MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is planning to stir up tensions in Georgia by putting out reports that claim that the country’s October 26 parliamentary elections are illegitimate, triggering protest rallies across the country potentially morphing into a color revolution, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"One of the ways to put pressure on authorities is publishing ‘interim reports’ assessing the situation before the election which usually emerge two weeks before the vote. They are prepared by a small group of hired individuals who do not bear any responsibility for their actions," the diplomat noted. "As a result, this is not a reflection of the real state of affairs in any given country but a work of fiction on the subject commissioned by a client which has nothing to do with the legitimacy of the vote," she explained.
"By all appearances, ODIHR is planning to use precisely these assessments to heat up the situation in Georgia before the elections, and if the West does not like their outcome, then ODIHR’s conclusion may trigger protests and attempts to dispute their results up to another color revolution," Zakharova noted.
The diplomat pointed out that information that emerged that the US intends to use the OSCE ODIHR in order to meddle in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia "is not surprising at all." "It is necessary to clearly realize that nowadays, ODIHR is an instrument of the collective West for pushy interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign countries, above all, via the institute of the international observation of elections," the spokeswoman explained. She stressed that the methodology of ODIHR operations has never been put to a vote by OSCE member states but was passed off as some "gold standard" which purportedly helps to determine whether the elections were "free and fair." "However, this is not so. In its reports, ODIHR is fulfilling the political assignment it received and provides those conclusions and results that its clients expect from it," Zakharova added.
"The only way to boost trust in the ODIHR election observation mechanism is its profound reform based on the principles of respect to the sovereign equality of all countries, impartiality and consensus criteria approved by all," the diplomat added.
"While ODIHR’s conclusions and statements remain prejudiced and subjective, the best path is to ignore them. It is possible to fulfill obligations on inviting international observers without involving ODIHR. Experience shows that the elections can very well be held without it while the voters’ trust in their results - and this is precisely why the observers are invited - will not be hurt. The legitimacy of the elections is determined by the voters’ will, and by this alone, and not by ODIHR’s assessments," the diplomat concluded.