Georgia’s parliamentary delegation walked out of the 33rd session of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly in The Hague after lawmakers adopted the Hague Declaration and a separate resolution sharply criticising the country’s democratic record.
The delegation left the chamber after failing to have references critical of the Georgian government removed from the final declaration and refused to take part in the vote, News.Az reports, citing News Georgia.
“Our delegation will not participate in the vote as a sign of protest. It is doubly regrettable that we have to make such a decision here in The Hague, the capital of international law,” Nikoloz Samkharadze, chairman of the Georgian parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee, said before leaving the session.
He accused the declaration of deliberately distorting and falsifying the situation in Georgia by ignoring attacks by what he described as radical groups on state institutions while misrepresenting election observers’ findings.
Levan Makhashvili, another member of the Georgian delegation, said the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) had never officially declared Georgia’s elections to be fraudulent. He also accused the Parliamentary Assembly of turning from a platform for security dialogue into “an instrument of selective political persecution”.
According to Makhashvili, European politicians describe as “peaceful” protesters who, he said, had set fire to the parliament building and attacked police officers.
The walkout drew criticism from the Parliamentary Assembly’s leadership.
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons said he was disappointed by the Georgian delegation’s decision.
“Leaving seats empty, even in your own country, is not the best solution, and here you are doing the same. It is the worst option, because democracy is about being together and trying to resolve conflict,” he said.
Back in Tbilisi, Georgia’s leadership rallied behind the delegation.
President Mikheil Kavelashvili described the walkout as “a worthy response” to US Congressman Joe Wilson, who initiated the resolution on Georgia, dismissing the American lawmaker as “an interested party” whose statements should not be taken seriously.
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili went even further, describing the adoption of the documents as “a scandal” for the OSCE and arguing that the rules-based international order had effectively collapsed.
“The network of organisations created after the Second World War to promote peace and cooperation has today been turned, by individual political groups, into an arena for fuelling conflict and political revenge… These people operate according to the rules of the 19th century and are prepared to attack an entire country to advance their own agenda,” Papuashvili said.
He also argued that the same individuals were targeting Georgia across Western institutions, including the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, adding that the international security system required a “fundamental reset”.
The controversy centred on the Hague Declaration and a separate resolution entitled “Protecting Free Elections and Fundamental Freedoms in Georgia”, introduced by Congressman Wilson, one of the most outspoken critics of the ruling Georgian Dream party in Washington.
The documents largely reflect the findings of the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism report on Georgia, which examined developments over the past two years and concluded that there had been systemic human rights violations. The Georgian government has dismissed the report as “false, erroneous and biased”.
The declaration calls for the rapid and full implementation of the report’s recommendations.
Both documents express deep concern over what they describe as democratic backsliding in Georgia, including pressure on civil society, independent media and the political opposition. They condemn the controversial Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, as well as legislative amendments restricting the right to protest, describing them as restrictive measures that have a chilling effect.
The resolution also refers to alleged irregularities during Georgia’s 2024 parliamentary elections, including voter intimidation and violations of ballot secrecy, as well as signs of fraud during the 2025 local elections. It calls for the immediate release of what it describes as political prisoners, an end to the alleged misuse of administrative resources, and warns against what it calls de facto one-party rule.
The Assembly also urged the international community not to recognise the outcome of future elections in Georgia unless they are certified by independent observers as free and democratic.
At the same time, the declaration reiterates the OSCE’s support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, condemns Russia’s continued occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and expresses support for the Georgian people, democratic governance, political pluralism and the protection of fundamental freedoms.