The electoral environment through the eyes of Georgian Dream: foreign interference and negativity

The US Embassy, opposition media and nongovernmental organizations were criticized

TBILISI, October 9 - Sputnik. The ruling Georgian Dream party has studied the activities of opposition parties, local observation organizations and media during the period from September 16 to October 6 and revealed a number of pre-election violations, MP Givi Mikanadze said at a press conference.

During the reporting period, Mikanadze said, there was foreign interference in the election process in Georgia, undeclared election campaigning, negative election campaigning, creation of obstacles for the election campaign, as well as discrediting of the election process and the Central Election Commission.

Parliamentary elections, which will determine who will govern Georgia for the next four years, are scheduled for October 26. The elections will be held for the first time only under a proportional system (by party lists) and on a large scale using electronic technologies - verification and vote counting machines.

Foreign interference

Georgian Dream accused Michael Roth, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag, who openly supports the Georgian opposition and calls the ruling party of Georgia a “Georgian nightmare”, of interfering in the election process.

On October 1, Roth published a post on social network X with contact information of people who, according to him, can help Georgian citizens living abroad who do not know how to register to vote in parliamentary elections. There, he attributed that registration closes on Oct. 7.

“This is definitely foreign interference in the pre-election processes,” Mikanadze said.

He called banners criticizing the Georgian Dream and its founder Bidzina Ivanishvili published for several days on the page of the U.S. Embassy in Georgia another example of foreign interference.

“Starting October 1, the US Embassy systematically posted cards on its Facebook page*, the content of which, based on the context, was political in nature and reflected a position contrary to that of the government team,” Mikanadze said.

The object of criticism was also EU Ambassador to Georgia Pavel Gerchinsky, who on October 4 publicly called Georgian Dream's election billboards depicting the destruction caused by the armed conflict in Ukraine shameful, shocking and disgusting.

The banners show the destruction in Ukraine and the inscription “No to War!” on one side and beautiful views of Georgia and the inscription “Choose Peace” on the other. As explained in the ruling party of Georgia, these billboards are a demonstration that this time voters will have to choose between war and peace.

Undeclared campaigning

In the course of monitoring the Anti-Corruption Bureau found out that two non-governmental organizations and their leaders are openly engaged in political activities and on September 24 recognized them as entities with declared electoral purpose, obliging them to submit financial reports.

We are talking about the NGO Transparency International Georgia and its executive director Eka Gigauri, as well as the civic movement Choose Europe, established in July 2024 with its founder Khatuna Lagazidze and eight co-founders.

They called the decision of the Anti-Corruption Bureau unfair and refused to comply.

Mikanadze noted that the Anti-Corruption Bureau made the decision legally and on the basis of numerous evidences. Nevertheless, the bureau took into account the recommendation of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and abolished the decision to recognize the above-mentioned organizations and their leaders as entities with a declared electoral purpose.

Mikanadze stressed that the above-mentioned organizations were given the opportunity to observe the parliamentary elections. They are registered with the CEC of Georgia as local observation organizations.

Negative campaign

Opponents of the Georgian authorities began to monetize photos and videos with election banners in their own way and replicate them in social networks.

For example, a distorted pre-election video was circulated on Facebook*, with a changed slogan of the Georgian Dream: “Only with destroyed Gelati, destroyed parliament, built corruption to Europe”.

A billboard in one of the largest cities of the country Kutaisi (Imereti region) was chosen for the video montage. The original motto of the ruling party looks like this: “Only with peace, prosperity, dignity to Europe”.

Another edited video used a Georgian Dream billboard in the city of Gori, which was damaged during the armed conflict in August 2008. In this case, instead of the slogan of the ruling party, they wrote: “Only apologizing, kneeling, with concessions to Russia”.

Sticks in the wheels

Mikanadze cited the refusal of opposition TV companies Mtavari Archi, TV Pirveli and Formula to air a video clip of the ruling party depicting the destruction in Ukraine as an example of obstruction of the Georgian Dream election campaign.

The opposition TV companies said in a joint statement on October 5 that they did not intend to broadcast unethical political advertising.

The TV channels' actions contrary to the law were supported by three non-governmental organizations (Media Advocacy Coalition, as well as European Orbit Georgia and Transparency International Georgia), which are registered with the CEC as election observers.

“It is important that one of the grounds for this decision of the TV stations was the aforementioned statement of the EU Ambassador to Georgia,” Mikanadze said.

He also noted the fact of placing free political advertisements of political subjects on the air of BMG media platform, which contradicts the law. As a result, the Communications Commission drew up a protocol on administrative offense.

Free political advertising, according to the Electoral Code, should be aired by the Public Broadcaster, Community Broadcaster and General Broadcaster.

Attempts to discredit the CEC and the elections

Representatives of the registered election observation NGO European Orbit Georgia and the My Vote observation mission deliberately campaigned and disseminated false information of manipulative nature regarding Georgian citizens registered abroad who have the right to vote, Mikanadze said.

The My Voice Observation Mission unites several dozens of NGOs, including Transparency International Georgia and European Orbit Georgia.

Mikanadze also noted the statement made by Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on September 27 that tens of thousands of Georgian citizens living abroad were denied opening of additional polling stations in European cities and the United States by the CEC decision of September 26.

In response, the Central Election Commission said that at meetings of various formats it had repeatedly explained to representatives of the presidential administration and Zurabishvili personally the rules of opening polling stations abroad established by law.

“Presenting lawful decisions as discriminatory is nothing but an attempt to discredit the agency and purposefully harm the election process,” Mikanadze said.

According to him, as the voting day approaches, it becomes more and more obvious for the population that the main goal of the radical wing of the opposition and associated observation organizations and media is to create erroneous perceptions in the society and international partners.

Mikanadze noted that in order to achieve their goal the opposition, their media and NGOs supporting them resort to all forms of manipulation. He called the interim NGO report one of the proofs of this.

“In parallel, the so-called unbiased monitoring organizations continue to ignore pre-election violations against the ruling team in their published reports and statements,” Mikanadze said.

All this, according to the MP, once again convinces the authorities that there is a purposeful campaign to prepare the public and international observers to misjudge the elections.

In response, Georgian Dream continues peaceful election campaign and is in constant contact with international observation organizations, Mikanadze concluded.

Reprinted from https://sputnik-georgia.ru