Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday criticized the OSCE/ODIHR’s decision not to observe the country’s upcoming local elections, dismissing their stated reasons as “hard to believe.”

“This is yet another example of the hypocrisy we see from abroad,” Papuashvili stated. “The letter they sent is a document — they can’t hide the dates. They claim they didn’t have enough time, yet we had a full month of campaigning in September. How difficult would it have been to send a small team to Georgia? Their explanation simply doesn’t hold up. In 2008, they received an invitation just a month before the presidential election and still came. Their current excuse is clearly false. Georgian society should take note of this.”

Papuashvili also cast doubt on the credibility of those claiming to have observed the 2024 elections in any meaningful way.

“Some now say the elections were observed — but what does that mean? It’s just a paper record. For those who don’t understand the written word, the head of the mission even said verbally that Georgia has an elected government and that elections took place. Back in September, the opposition had no objections; it was only in the aftermath that they began inventing complaints — allegations of leaks, duplicate ID use, inflated numbers. Their criticisms were limited to election day itself.”

“If they had genuinely observed the full process, they wouldn’t have found any grounds for objection. Their conclusions would’ve been positive — which is precisely why they chose not to participate,” he claimed.

Turning to the diplomatic community, Papuashvili criticized foreign embassies for their silence.

“If embassies remain quiet now, the day after the elections we’ll hear claims that the vote was not inclusive,” he warned.