Tonino Picula (MP, Croatia) opens the short-term observer briefing on 29 September.TBILISI, 30 September 2012 – The international observers monitoring the parliamentary elections in Georgia will present their preliminary post-election statement at a news conference on Tuesday, 2 October, in Tbilisi.

The mission is a joint undertaking of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the European Parliament (EP) and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA).

The statement will be delivered by Tonino Picula, the Special Co-ordinator to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission and Head of the OSCE PA delegation, followed by Luca Volontè, the Head of the PACE delegation, Assen Agov, the Head of the NATO PA delegation, Milan Cabrnoch, the Head of the EP delegation, and Nikolai Vulchanov, the Head of the OSCE/ODIHR long-term election observation mission.

The International Election Observation Mission comprises a total of 401 observers from 42 countries, including 290 long-term and short-term observers deployed by the OSCE/ODIHR, as well as 53 parliamentarians and staff from the OSCE PA, 29 from PACE, 14 from the NATO PA, and 14 from the EP.

Journalists are invited to attend the news conference on Tuesday, 2 October, at 14:30, in the Grand Ballroom of the Courtyard Marriot Hotel, 4 Freedom Square, Tbilisi.