Ruling party head: US Embassy statement on election watchdog “shocking”

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said the statement by the United States Embassy that criticised the exclusion of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, a Georgian-based election watchdog, from Parliamentary work on conditions for obtaining European Union membership candidate status for Georgia was “shocking”.

Kobakhize was reacting to the Embassy statement on Friday that said “the exclusion of ISFED, one of Georgia’s most trusted and experienced election observation organisations, from the Parliamentary working group on election reforms directly contradicts the European Commission’s recommendation that Georgia ensure the involvement of civil society in decision-making processes at all levels”.

The GD official countered by saying ISFED had been “actively involved in rigging” the parallel vote tabulation during the 2020 Parliamentary elections in the country. The organisation was forced to admit to erroneous data in its tallying of voting results.

Kobakhidze noted ISFED’s “fake data” had become “one of the main pillars of the domestic radical opposition” in the latter’s questioning of the legitimacy of the elections.

“[T]he statement of the Embassy [...] is shocking for us. ISFED was actively involved in rigging the parallel vote tabulation [in 2020], which was the most serious fact”, the GD official said.

For the radical opposition, the falsification of the parallel vote tabulation became one of the main pillars to carry out sabotage. Practically, ISFED was directly involved in the revolutionary processes that were managed by the radical opposition. After that, we see ISFED on the stage in front of the Parliament [during opposition rallies earlier this year], where the political demand for the resignation of the Government and the formation of the so-called technical government was heard”, Kobakhidze said.

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Sunday said ISFED had “refused to distance itself” from the opposition’s demand of a technical government involving the opposition being formed in the country, adding the refusal had served as the basis of not inviting the organisation to the Parliamentary working group on electoral issues.

“ISFED should tell the public whether they will withdraw the ultimatum to have a decisive say in forming the government; if they withdraw the ultimatum, then they can participate in the working group”, Papuashvili said.