“The anti-state campaigns of the opposition and their supplement organizations are in full swing and this is against the 9 steps fulfillment goal,” said Maka Botchorishvili, Chairwoman of the parliamentary European Integration Committee.

Maka Botchorishvili remarked on the opposition’s “alarm” on the opening of polling stations for Georgian citizens abroad.

“Nobody doubts that free and fair elections represent the cornerstone of any democratic state and that elections should be well organized. It is seen by the naked eye that a discrediting campaign is waged against the Central Election Commission (CEC) several months ahead of the elections. What does the false alarm on the opening of polling stations for Georgian citizens abroad aim at? The Georgian government never restricted its citizens from participating in the elections either in Georgia or abroad. Holding elections has its rules and the foreign ministry never created obstacles for the CEC in administering the elections,” she said.

Maka Botchorishvili added that 52 polling stations were opened abroad for the 2018 elections for approximately 50,000 registered Georgian citizens.