U.S. Ambassador John R. Bass will host a direct video conference today at 18:00 at the U.S. Embassy that will connect Georgian opposition leaders to U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) officials in Washington, DC to discuss the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia. Opposition leaders will discuss the pre-election environment, the revised electoral code, and proposed changes to the Law on Political Unions, with Department of State and USAID officials as part of the lead up to next week's Democracy Working Group meeting in Washington, D.C. Among the U.S. officials participating in the direct video conference will be Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Melia. The Democracy Working Group is one of four working groups that operate under the U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership, signed in January 2009.