The United States congratulates Salome Zourabichvili on her election as President of Georgia.

We welcome the assessment by the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission that Georgia’s presidential runoff was competitive and that candidates were able to campaign freely. We also share the Mission’s concerns and those of other international and domestic observers about instances of misuse of state resources for partisan campaigning, among other issues. These actions are not consistent with Georgia’s commitment to fully fair and transparent elections, and we urge Georgian authorities to address the shortcomings raised by OSCE/ODIHR and other observers.

The United States will continue to support strongly Georgia’s democratic and economic development, territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, and Western integration and will continue to work with Georgia in the area of electoral and democratic reform.