OSCE: 'substantial progress' over presidential election

“These elections were not perfect, but since I was here in January for the presidential election, concrete and substantial progress has been made. Problems and much work remain. I hope all political forces in this country will come together and continue to work to improve Georgia’s democracy,” said João Soares, Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE short-term observers and head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation.

The OSCE monitoring team just gave their preliminary assessment.

Full press release here. The sound bites are, naturally, much more positive than the overall picture.

MORE: PACE's Matyas Eorsi, speaking at the press conference: "[In Europe] the losing side congratulates the winner and prepares for the next election. This essential criteria has not been met in Georgia."

Eorsi said they would recommend adopting a new electoral code by the end of the year.

Unlike the presidential election, Georgian television is not covering this briefing live. Public interest in the election is palpably weaker than in January.