Givi Mikanadze, a member of the parliamentary majority, addressed the public at today’s briefing, calling attention to foreign attempts to interfere in Georgia’s pre-election process and the disruptive actions of radical opposition groups, non-governmental organizations, and other election-related violations.

Mikanadze noted a growing trend of statements threatening sanctions against high-ranking government officials over the past few months.

“In recent months, there has been an increase in statements threatening sanctions against high-ranking government officials, and we have witnessed a foreign politician’s visit to Georgia aimed at conducting agitation against the ruling team. It is clear that as election day approaches, such forces have intensified their attempts to interfere in the pre-election process and influence voters’ choices.

On 16 September, the US Department of State announced on its website that the US Department of the Treasury had sanctioned the head of the Special Tasks Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and his deputy without any evidence or justification. Additionally, the US Department of State announced the imposition of visa restrictions on senior government and municipal officials, members of Parliament, and their family members. Such actions by a foreign country during the pre-election period constitute interference in the electoral process and an attempt to influence voters’ decisions.

On 16 September, Michael Roth, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag, visited Georgia and held meetings with representatives of opposition parties, the nongovernmental sector, and the President of Georgia. After each meeting, he made statements against the ruling team, which were also insulting.

On 16 September, media outlets reported that in Chkhorotsku, Vakhtang Lemonjava, a member of the Coalition for Change, had smashed the car of the head of the Georgian Dream campaign headquarters with stones. An investigation into the incident has been launched.

The Choose Europe nongovernmental organization is actively engaged in anti-government agitation and propaganda. Representatives of this organization make statements against the ruling party in opposition media outlets. As a result, the Anti-Corruption Bureau submitted a motion to Tbilisi City Court requesting financial information from Choose Europe N(N)LE, classified as a politically motivated entity, and its founders regarding activities carried out by the organization. Instead of responding to the undeclared political activities of Choose Europe, organizations such as the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and the Georgian Democratic Initiative issued statements against the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

In order to understand how neutral and impartial the Choose Europe nongovernmental organization is, we would like to introduce the public to the members of its board, who over the years have made donations in favor of opposition political parties. Specifically:

• Ivane Chkonia donated 1,000 GEL to the Droa party in 2021.
• Giorgi Rukhadze donated 4,920 GEL to the Christian-Democratic party in 2015.
• Sopiko Chkonia donated 500 GEL to the Droa party in 2022.
• Giorgi Papelishvili donated 501 GEL to Paata Burchuladze’s party in 2016.
• Giorgi Taktakishvili donated 3,115 GEL to the National Forum in 2017.
• Nikoloz Shurgaia donated 35,000 GEL to the Lelo party in 2020-2021.

On 16 September, Salome Zourabichvili called on Mamuka Khazaradze’s and Giorgi Gakharia’s parties to unite for the elections and invited them to consultations at the Orbeliani Palace. The meeting, mediated by the President, took place on 17 September. This is nothing short of a violation of the neutrality defined by the Constitution for the President, and her positioning can only be seen as the use of administrative resources.

Media outlets are deliberately spreading information that not only has no basis in reality but also has the potential to cause public dissatisfaction. A clear example of this is the information disseminated by Formula TV on 17 September, claiming that an agreement had essentially been reached at the EU level to suspend visa-free travel for Georgia after the elections. This claim was not confirmed; moreover, this disinformation was also denied by Rikard Jozwiak, the editor of Radio Free Europe’s Europe bureau.

On 14 September, Dimitri Kvantaliani, the zone head of the United National Movement, attempted to disrupt a Georgian Dream meeting in the Avtokarkhana Settlement in Kutaisi. Dimitri Kvantaliani himself uploaded a video of the incident to social media, where he admitted that his reason for attending was to disrupt the meeting.

On 14 September, a representative of the Coalition for Change, Lekso Valiauri, verbally insulted the Prime Minister of Georgia and members of Georgian Dream at a gathering organized by Georgian Dream in the city of Gori, attempting to provoke unrest among the attendees. The insult was confirmed by the author himself.

TV Pirveli and Formula TV initially aired a political advertisement for Georgian Dream, but both broadcasters removed the ad from their schedules a few days later. In response, the National Communications Commission compiled an administrative violation protocol. It was later revealed that TV Pirveli was found in violation by the first-instance court and fined 5,000 GEL.

The refusal by broadcasters to air the free political advertisements allocated to a political entity creates a dangerous and damaging precedent for the electoral environment. For example, from 6 to 18 September, three channels (Mtavari, TV Pirveli, and Formula TV) were supposed to air the Georgian Dream’s election ads a total of 787 times, but not once were they broadcast, while opposition ads aired 6,227 times. This indicates that the Georgian Dream’s pre-election campaign is being treated unfairly by these television companies, which is why we filed a complaint with the Communications Commission.

During the pre-election period, several instances of attempts by representatives of opposition parties to discredit the electoral process and the Election Administration were observed. Specifically:

• Following best international practices, the Election Administration developed a Code of Conduct for Political Parties, based on the key principles of the document used in the 2024 European Parliament elections. Before the signing process began, the Election Administration sent the draft of the Code of Conduct to political parties for review and feedback, and the final version was prepared with their input. In the end, out of 27 parties registered for the parliamentary elections, only six signed the Code of Conduct (the deadline for signing expired on 13 September). According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), the parties that signed the code are the Georgian Dream, Change Georgia, European Democrats, For Justice, The Third Way, and Our United Georgia. None of the major opposition parties signed the document.
• On 14 September, opposition media reported that members appointed by European Georgia, the National Movement, and Strategy Aghmashenebeli were allegedly prevented from observing the training sessions for polling station members held by the district election commissions of Isani and Mtatsminda. According to information posted on the CEC’s official website, the Election Administration allows observer organizations and party-appointed members in district election commissions to monitor these training sessions without any interference, to ensure a high standard of transparency in the election process. Most of them do take advantage of this opportunity. In the aforementioned case, members appointed by these parties attempted to disrupt the training sessions, later framing the issue as if they were not given the opportunity to observe the process.
• On 18 September, in a briefing by the Deputy Chair of the Central Election Commission, it was revealed to the public that some parties involved in the voter information campaign had disseminated contradictory, incorrect, and legally inconsistent information through the media regarding the rules for filling out ballots, the secrecy of voting, and the process of vote counting. Specifically, on 5 September, during a broadcast on TV Pirveli, a representative of the My Vote observation mission directly urged voters to mark the circle next to one electoral subject, then cross it out and mark another circle, “reassuring” voters that during the manual recount, the election administration would be forced to consider such ballots valid, despite the fact that the machine would invalidate them. In the same context, the possibility of taking photographs of ballots in the voting booth was mentioned as if it were permitted by law. Additionally, on 15 September, during a broadcast on Formula TV, the same representative of the aforementioned organization made another statement that somewhat contradicted the information shared on 5 September but was still legally questionable and manipulative. In this case, the representative acknowledged that photography and videography are prohibited but still allowed for the possibility of taking photos or videos in the secrecy of the voting booth. All of this serves to create a chaotic situation, as this legally non-compliant and disinformative campaign may confuse voters and lead to negative consequences that could jeopardize the integrity of the elections.

And finally, I would like to emphasize once again that despite our repeated public and systematic highlighting of specific violations, to this day, none of the local monitoring organizations (the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Transparency International Georgia) have reflected any of the facts mentioned in this or previous briefings in their reports, nor have they issued even a basic statement. This clearly confirms their bias and positioning in favor of a particular side,” Mikanadze stated.