NGOs say ruling party receives biggest portion of election donations

Three Georgian NGOs say in their pre-election report that the Georgian Dream ruling party has received the largest proportion of election donations ahead of the October 21 municipal elections.

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and the Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) state that 80 percent of all donations were from 643 people

The NGOs say that 32 legal entities contributed to political parties as well for the upcoming elections.

From the 32 legal entities, 31 donated to the ruling party,” the NGOs stated.

Georgia’s State Audit Agency reads that between July 1 and October 15, 2017 the total amount of donations received by political parties or independent candidates amounted to 12,998,651.16 GEL.

Out of this sum the Georgian Dream received 11,640,441.00 GEL, the European Georgia opposition-931,083.95 GEL, the United National Movement opposition-108,149.21 GEL, and the Democratic Movement-United Georgia opposition-31,486.00 GEL.

The ruling party representatives say that the Georgian Dream is supported by the biggest part of Georgians and there is nothing surprising that the party received the biggest portion of donations.

Legal entities, including companies, have the right to donate a maximum of 120,000GEL annually to political parties.

Donation from individual citizens must not exceed 60,000 GEL annually.