In light of the Georgian Central Election Commission’s announcement on January 13 of the final election results, President Bush phoned President-elect Saakashvili today to relay his congratulations.

We also congratulate the people of Georgia on the conduct of the presidential election, which was the most competitive in Georgia’s history and which was determined by international organizations to be in essence consistent with most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and shared standards for democratic elections, despite significant challenges.

Together with other international observers, we looked closely at the problems that were raised, including carefully reviewing the findings of our own observation mission and meeting with colleagues from other international monitoring organizations and members of the opposition. Our conclusion is consistent with the findings of the OSCE’s Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and other respected organizations.

The Central Election Commission answered specific concerns raised by our own observation team. We support ODIHR’s efforts to catalog any complaints they receive, including in an additional report to be issued this week. We urge the appropriate authorities to respond transparently and expeditiously to all complaints.