Statements

Tbilisi City hall is preventing the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) from monitoring interviews with candidates competing for public service positions. In their letter Tbilisi City Hall offered ISFED to attend the interviews with the status of a member of the commission for competition and certification, instead of the status of an observer, which is unacceptable because such an arrangement contradicts activities of ISFED. 

Interviews began in Tbilisi City Hall as part of the competition for employment in public service on July 7, 2015. On June 9, ISFED sent a letter to Tbilisi City Hall for permission to attend the interviews as an observer, only to receive a delayed and incomplete response which limited ISFED’s right to monitor the process. 

This is not the first case when ISFED was prevented from monitoring the process of interviews as part of the competitions and certification for employment in public service. Since the launch of ISFED’s monitoring in October 2014, access of the organization to interviews in 14 self-government bodies was restricted in part or in full. 

ISFED urges Tbilisi City Hall, other local self-government bodies and commissions for competitions and certification to promptly respond to requests of organizations interested in monitoring the process and provide them with full access. Otherwise, transparency and fairness of the process will be put under question. 

^{ISFED is monitoring the process of competitions and certification in public service by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Contents of the above statement are the responsibility of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, American people or the United States Government.}