TBILISI, January 5th, 2004 (RIA Novosti correspondent) - President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE Bruce George believes that the recent presidential elections in Georgia were a step towards democracy, though not without violations. He said this at a press conference summing up the elections in Tbilisi on Monday.
According to Mr George, the Georgian authorities demonstrated the will to hold democratic elections and have made progress in this area, though there were some violations.
The president of the PA OSCE in particular pointed out the lack of clear division of the authority and functions between state and political representatives, and of accurate balance of various levels of election commissions.
But on the whole, there were less specific violations than at the parliamentary elections of November 2nd, 2003, Bruce George said.
Following the presidential elections on January 4, 2004 were 717 OSCE observers officially registered with the Central Election Commission of the republic.
