Ruling party Sec Gen highlights President’s “illogical step” in filing lawsuit against transparency law

Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday called President Salome Zourabichvili’s lawsuit against the law on transparency of foreign influence in the Constitutional Court “illogical” by pointing out she had previously criticised the institution which last year concluded that President had violated the country’s constitution through her visits to Europe without the Government's authorisation.

When President Salome Zourabichvili violated the country's constitution, everyone remembers the statements she made against the Constitutional Court, but today she files a lawsuit in the same institution, which is illogical”, Kaladze said.

The ruling party official further claimed “these processes” did “not only come from within” the country, but were “also managed from the outside”.

We are told that transparency is bad, [and in arguments criticising the law] transparency turned out to be un-European. [...] Transparency is important, and we will do everything for the development of the country, for its European integration”, he concluded.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday said there was “no alternative to transparency” and added it was “unacceptable for someone to non-transparently seek to stage and fund a revolution in the country”.

The controversial law requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.