You're reading: Ambassador: Georgia conducted most open elections in history

Georgian Ambassador to Ukraine Grigol Katamadze has said that the most democratic elections in history were held in his country, and said he hopes that the winning Georgian Dream opposition party will take into account the views of citizens in its policies.

“I, as an ambassador and as a citizen of my country, am happy and proud that for the first time in the modern history of Georgia we held the first open elections, without any additional emotional outbursts, and that power is being transferred for the first time through the will of the people,” he told Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Katamadze said that there had been a lot of speculation about the Georgian government headed by President Mikheil Saakashvili not allowing the opposition to win the elections regardless of the result of the vote, but in practice this had not been the case.

In his opinion, now it is important that Georgian Dream, which will be represented in the executive government, would continue the reform process.

“I would like to believe that those good initiatives and those first steps – and nobody in Georgia has ever said that we have completed reform – will continue,” the diplomat said.

The ambassador said that the winning party had come to power in a completely different Georgia than that of 2004, when the current ruling party came to power.

While analyzing the impact of the elections on foreign policy, Katamadze noted that in 2008 more than 73% of Georgians voted for their country’s accession to NATO and the European Union. He said that the process of Georgia’s approximation to this goal was very active. He said that all political parties must take into account the choice of their citizens.

While speaking about relations with Russia, the diplomat said that Georgia could establish mutual relations with this state, but if Russia itself wants such improvements.

He also expressed confidence that the citizens who voted for the opposition would never support any actions and steps aimed at a threat to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia.