Ruling party head says election watchdog has “no place” in Parliamentary working groups

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, a Georgian-based election watchdog, had “no place” in the Parliamentary working groups discussing reforms for obtaining the European Union membership candidate status for the country.

Kobakhidze was reacting to the statement of the United States Ambassador Kelly Degnan, who earlier today said ISFED was a “highly respected” and experienced election monitoring organisation.

I don't want to get into too much debate with Madam Ambassador, because I really regret the statements that are being made about ISFED and their rigging of the parallel vote tabulation [in the 2020 elections]”, Kobakhidze said in reference to erroneous vote calculations the organisation was forced to admit during the elections.

“Our stance on ISFED was very soft, despite its rigging of the parallel vote tabulation and demands of the resignation of the [Georgian] Government. We proposed they distance themselves from this demand, although their position was very rigid, which indicates that they intend to participate in revolutionary processes in the future”, the GD official said.

Kobakhidze noted in the circumstances it was “natural” that neither ISFED nor “similar organisations” would have a place in the Parliamentary working groups.

Everything is as clear as day - the parallel vote tabulation was rigged, the data over [supposed] election fraud was rigged, which served to implement the radical opposition's revolutionary scenario. This does not need to be covered up - this needs to be acknowledged, which is the best way for ISFED and other similar organisations to at least repair their reputation”, Kobakhidze noted.

Earlier today, in her comments over the matter, Degnan stressed ISFED had been “transparent” about the mistake in the calculations as soon as they were able to confirm it.  

• Ambassador Degnan says United States has “full confidence” in election watchdog

“And that is why it is so important that ISFED and other civil society organisations - that have expertise in election monitoring and conducting elections - are able to participate in Georgia’s electoral reform working groups”, she said.