Parliament Speaker says foreign funding of “anti-Georgian Dream party campaign” “undemocratic, Russian-style”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said sources of alleged foreign funding of the domestic “anti-Georgian Dream party campaign” represented an “interference” in the parliamentary elections next month and “influencing of the will of Georgian voters”.

Papuashvili said the development - “whether it [involves] an American foundation or a European one” - was “undemocratic and Russian-style behaviour”.

[W]e are observing the pre-election environment, we see that it is developing in a calm environment. We see the only excesses on the part of the opposition United National Movement party. I am not saying anything about [their] lies, disinformation. These are [one] type of violations, and another is foreign interference in Georgian elections”, the Speaker alleged.

Papuashvili reviewed the Danish Government-sponsored Festival of Democracy, hosted throughout the country, by saying that it was “good that they stopped [funding] it, it seems that they finally understood that you can not interfere in the elections of a friendly country”.

We do not interfere in the Danish elections, and neither should Denmark interfere in the Georgian elections. At first, we could see that this donor organisation was somewhat stubborn and said that it had been done for good. They finally understood, it seems, when they analysed and thought about this issue”, he continued.

Papuashvili further claimed the foreign-funded “campaigns” were being “presented as voter education campaigns” while representatives of Transparency International Georgia, including its Director Eka Gigauri, were instead “directly campaigning against the ruling party”.