Ruling party Executive Secretary thanks supporters, state institutions, welcomes observer assessments of elections

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling party Georgian Dream party, on Sunday expressed gratitude to “every supporter for standing by the GD and their homeland” in the general elections held on Saturday “despite enormous psychological pressure and influence from both inside and outside the country” and “unprecedented flood of disinformation targeting the party and the country”.

In his comments at the party’s Tbilisi office, Mdinaradze further thanked state institutions for “fulfilling their legal duties and maintaining an environment that upheld public order and ensured proper conduct of elections”  throughout the  campaign period and the election day.

The Executive Secretary noted the role of the country's Central Election Commission and state agencies, including the Ministry of Interior Affairs, for “making sure that no observer mission, despite their extreme bias, could say a single word about any serious irregularity that aligns with reality”.

Addressing involvement of international observers, in particular the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the party official welcomed their “recognition of legitimacy of the elections” and of the competitiveness of the vote “despite unprecedented pressure”, while acknowledging their feedback. 

Commenting on references to a “troublesome election district” and “tension” by observers of National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute as well as OSCE/ODIHR, Mdinaradze claimed “intimidators of the United National Movement party” had “arrived from Akhmeta”, a city in eastern Georgia, “at the direction of party leader Levan Khabeishvili” and “staged physical assaults” at the Isani election precinct in capital Tbilisi “in a coordinated operation”.

In comments on observers’ noted about the need for a ban on video recording to “avoid exacerbating an environment of fear and intimidation” in precincts, Mdinaradze said recording  had been allowed, “at their request”, in previous years to “ensure no manipulation is taking place inside polling stations”.

In his comments on observers’ suggestion of allowing legal entities to make donations to parties, Mdinaradze said  recent changes to the legislation that only allowed individuals to make donations had been instituted “based on [observer] approval”. He added the ruling party was ready to reverse the move and  grant entities  the ability to fund parties.

Mdinaradze also claimed a “fake campaign” was being run by opposition leaders, which he alleged was “failing unlike the 2020 scenario”, in reference to some of the opposition parties boycotting the newly formed Parliament” following that year’s elections.

He dismissed the opponents’ claims about  “300,000 votes” having been “manipulated”, without which the parties said the ruling party’s actual share of votes would have stood at “40 percent”, calling the allegation “not worth a serious discussion”.

The party official also commented on the possibility of opposition parties not taking up their mandates as MPs and refusing to participate in the Parliament by urging them “not to enter the Parliament” as it would “save them the sabotage they have been conducting for all these years”, and “create a better working environment” with the move.