The Georgian authorities will lift the state of emergency in the next two or three days, Matthew Bryza, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said on November 13.

“I know from my conversation just now with the Speaker of Parliament [Nino Burjanadze], that it sounds like [the] state of emergency will be lifted in [the] next two of three days; I think on [the] 16th [of November],” Bryza said at a news conference in Tbilisi.

Once that happens, he said, “there is plenty of time to organize elections that are free and fair.”

Early presidential elections are expected to be held on January 5.