Opposition demands Alliance of Patriots of Georgia be banned from October elections due to alleged Kremlin support

Opposition parties in Georgia demand the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia be prohibited from running in the October parliamentary elections following the release of an investigation of the Dossier Center, which tracks the criminal activities associated with the Kremlin. 

The investigation revealed that the Kremlin financially supports politicians Irma Inashvili and David Tarkhan-Mouravi, who are leading the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia in the upcoming elections.

The Dossier Center quoted the secretary of the Russian SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) General Vladimir Chernov, who heads the president's department for interregional and cultural relations with foreign countries.

Elene Khostharia, one of the leaders of European Georgia party and the majoritarian candidate for the Vake district of Tbilisi, has even submitted a statement to the General Prosecutor's Office of Georgia today regarding the Kremlin’s financing of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia.

Inashvili denies the allegations. She says that former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and Giga Bokeria (currently one of the leaders of the opposition European Georgia party and a former member of Saakashvili's United National Movement party) ordered this investigation be given to the Dossier Center.

The Dossier Center writes that the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia requested more than $8 million from the Administration of the President of Russia.

Georgian oppositionists have sent a budget for four months of the election campaign to Moscow. They are ready to spend $166,667 on souvenirs alone, and the total expenses are estimated at $8,430,625, which is a huge amount for poor Georgia", says Dossier Center.

According to the Dossier Center, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia has hired political strategist Sergey Mikheev and the Moscow company POLITSECRETS to promote the party.

A multimillion-dollar pre-election budget has already been formed and campaign videos have been edited, and political strategist Sergey Mikheev and the Moscow company POLITSECRETS have been hired to promote the APG", writes Dossier Center.

Georgian candidates and parties are prohibited from receiving donations from foreign citizens, companies, international and religious organisations, movements, government agencies, as well as from anonymous sponsors in Georgia.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Georgia on October, 31 2020 to elect 150 members of parliament. The parliamentary elections will be held according to the updated electoral system: 120 deputies will be elected according to party lists, and 30 - according to majoritarian districts. In addition, the barrier for a party to enter parliament has been lowered and is now not three, but only one percent.