The Georgian delegation left the meeting in protest OSCE PA

The Georgian delegation left the voting on the "Hague Declaration" at the plenary session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in protest.

According to the portal "News Georgia", the decision was made in protest against the content of the document criticizing the Georgian authorities. The declaration includes a resolution initiated by American Congressman Joe Wilson.

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the head of the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, said that the provisions of the updated version of the declaration distort the political reality in the country, incorrectly reflect the facts and pose a threat to Georgia's national interests.

"I would like to make a procedural comment on the voting procedure and submit the following statement on behalf of the Georgian delegation. Due to the fact that certain parts of the revised version of the declaration deliberately distort the existing political reality in Georgia, grossly misrepresenting and falsifying facts, completely ignoring violent attacks on state institutions and arbitrarily interpreting both the reports of election observation missions and the reports of the Moscow Mechanism, thereby endangering Georgia's national interests, our delegation will not participate in the voting process in protest. It is doubly regrettable that we have to make such a decision in The Hague, the capital of international law. I would like to ask the secretariat to properly reflect our position in the minutes of the assembly meeting. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the Dutch Parliament for the warm welcome and excellent organization of the event," Samkharadze said.

The President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Pere Joan Pons, responded to Nikoloz Samkharadze's remark, stating that leaving empty seats in parliament is always the worst option.

"Thank you very much, Nikoloz. As you know, even in your country, leaving empty seats was not a good decision, and here you are doing the same. I believe that leaving empty seats in parliament is always the worst option, since democracy is primarily a joint attempt to resolve conflicts," he said.

After the Georgian delegation left the meeting, the OSCE PA adopted the "Hague Declaration", which included a resolution on the situation in Georgia under the title "Protection of the integrity of elections and fundamental freedoms in Georgia".