(TBILISI) - The European Union on Wednesday said that the longer Georgia maintains a state of emergency, the harder it will be for a snap presidential poll in January to secure international approval.

Peter Semneby, the EU representative to the south Caucasus region, told journalists that the state of emergency declared last week and the lack of time were hampering proper procedures.

"The longer the state of emergency lasts, the more difficult it will be for foreign observers to conclude that the elections will be fair," he said during a visit to the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

"It's going to be a big challenge for the OSCE to organise the monitoring of the election," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, the speaker of parliament, Nino Burjanadze, said that emergency rule would end on Friday. The measures, which include a ban on demonstrations and muzzling of independent news broadcasts, were introduced after violent disturbances in Tbilisi last week.

President Mikheil Saakashvili called early elections for January 5 and invited the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is Europe's top election monitoring body, to observe the vote.

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