Ruling party official vows GD will not withdraw law on transparency of foreign influence

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday vowed the party would not withdraw the controversial domestic law on transparency of foreign influence, which requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.

“First of all, the law is correct and it’s a Georgian law. And secondly, [the opposition] brand everything national and Georgian as ‘Russian’”, he said in reference to criticisms of the law based on its alleged similarity to legislation in Russia.

Many politicians in Europe also do this - if they see something traditional, conservative, [then] everything is ‘Russian’. There is such a trend that everything conservative and traditional should be called ‘Russian’”, Mdinaradze claimed.

“As for the law on transparency, if this law did not exist and if we did not have the support of citizens to prove the truth, tens of thousands of people would have gathered at Rustaveli Avenue [for rally] at this moment and there would have been a mess, but [the opposition] are exhausted”, he claimed.

“They have realised that a fake outcome [of the parliamentary elections held last week] cannot be achieved with this fake protest. Both this law and the restricting of [LGBT] propaganda were legitimised by the majority of Georgian citizens”, he concluded.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze in May asserted the law would provide “strong guarantees for long-term peace and stability” in Georgia, which he claimed was “essential” for the country’s EU integration.