Ruling party: opposition has plans to release deepfakes on election day
The ruling Georgian Dream party has warned voters regarding deepfake videos which may go viral on election day. Photo: Georgian Dream press office.
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The ruling Georgian Dream party says that the ‘radical opposition’ which has ‘zero chance of winning the parliamentary elections’ has plans to release deepfakes on election day, on Saturday.
Deepfake videos are inauthentic videos that depict people and voices that resemble their counterparts in reality.
Kobakhidze says that the videos, which may depict members of the ruling party, including party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, will aim to mislead voters.
The fake videos may be placed on the internet one day prior to the election or on election day and voters should be very cautious,” Executive Secretary of the ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze stated earlier today.
He said that the ruling party has no detailed information so far on what kind of fake videos may go viral.
The United National Movement opposition party members say that the ruling party ‘is becoming more and more inappropriate as the election day is approaching.’
Salome Samadashvili from the UNM has advised the ruling party to ‘adapt to failure in the elections and act more appropriately.’
The ruling Georgian Dream party has spent 4.3 million GEL on election commercials between September 1 and September 21.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has accepted the challenge of the opposition parties Lelo and Strategy Agmashenebeli to participate in debates in the coming days.
The ruling Georgian Dream party received 6,495,650 million GEL in election contributions last month, while the opposition Lelo party, which was founded by co-founders of TBC bank Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, received 1, 312,590 GEL, the State Audit Office reports.
Starting today, the 59 political parties that have registered with the Central Election Commission (CEC) to run in the 2020 Georgian parliamentary elections can begin their election campaigns.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia told journalists earlier today that the election campaign of the ruling Georgia Dream party is ‘very open and transparent’. At the meeting with journalists in the western Georgian town of Poti, PM Gakharia denied allegations that the government had been using administrative resources, threats and resorting to vote-buying.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that the United National Movement opposition party (UNM) has ‘revolutionary headquarters’ along with the official election headquarters which is chaired by former Interior Minister, recently released Vano Merabishvili.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that the United National Movement opposition party has requested a permit from Tbilisi City hall to hold a large rally on Rustaveli Avenue in central Tbilisi at 12:00 on October 31, on the day when parliamentary elections are scheduled in the country.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that it will take about 100 seats in the 150-member parliament in tomorrow's elections, adding that the United National Movement opposition party has made groups of former law-enforcers to spark tension and stage provocations’ on election day.