The Central Election Commission (CEC) states that the election preparation process has become grounds for yet another attack by biased parties.

According to the electoral administration, all expenditure by the organisation has been targeted and justified.

“The electoral administration continues preparing for municipal elections. The electoral administration began this process before the announcement of the poll and has undertaken numerous activities to ensure they are conducted professionally. These include significant projects such as the International Conference of Electoral Administrations, which involved nearly 100 representatives from electoral administrations of 22 countries, various state structures, and Georgia’s electoral administration.

The Elections and Electronic Technologies project was implemented across all municipalities in seven phases with nearly 4,900 participants. Meetings were conducted with young people as part of the Georgian Youth Electoral Council—From Ideas to Changes project, engaging approximately 400 young participants. A working meeting was held with judges handling administrative cases in common courts, attended by approximately 80 people. Currently underway is one of the most crucial aspects of municipal election preparation, retraining the trainer corps. Some 279 people will undergo training. These retrained trainers will subsequently conduct training sessions for thousands of precinct electoral commission members.

Naturally, all the aforementioned activities are part of the CEC’s action plan. Conducting dozens of events over months and retraining tens of thousands of people involves certain costs. This has apparently become grounds for some interested parties to attack the electoral administration.

Data taken out of context is being circulated as if the expenditures were allocated to unspecified needs over a brief period, rather than across dozens of events spanning several months and involving thousands of people. This suggests some form of violation, despite all documents related to the organisation of these events being publicly available.

The Central Election Commission categorically states that all organisational expenditure has been targeted and justified. Comments from interested parties on this issue aim to discredit the organisation and the electoral process generally. The Central Electoral Commission will not leave any attempt to damage the process without response and will provide the public with the truth on every issue manipulatively circulated by biased parties,” the CEC statement declared.