TI Georgia “promoting Parliament sabotage” through “false claims” on convening of legislative body - Parliament Speaker

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday accused Transparency International Georgia of spreading “disinformation” aimed at “undermining the convening” of the 11th Parliament following the October 26 general elections. 

In his press comments at the ruling Georgian Dream party Tbilisi office, the official asserted TI Georgia, which he claimed was “funded mainly by international donors, with the Swedish Government a key donor”, had “encouraged a sabotage” of the new Parliament by “falsely claiming” it could not convene without a formal invitation by President Salome Zourabichvili. 

The Speaker called the claims “politically motivated attempts to delegitimise the incoming Parliamentary session”, pointing to the President’s “formal” role in the process. 

TI Georgia is funded from abroad, with one of its biggest donors being the Swedish Government. So this disinformation should be either denied by the organisation itself or denied by its donor”, he said, and warned he would formally ask the Swedish Embassy to “address and refute” the claims in the absence of retraction.

The official further clarified the Constitutional process for convening the Parliament, saying the legislative body “must meet no later than the 10th day after the publication of the election summary document [by the Central Election Commission]”. 

He stressed the President’s role in setting a date within this period was “largely procedural”, noting, “if the President goes to sabotage and does not invite the Parliament, it is still required to meet”. 

In further criticism, Papuashvili implied TI Georgia’s actions could be “politically driven rather than observational”, pointing to the electoral restrictions imposed on the organisation by the country’s Anti-Corruption Bureau in September for its “political bias” and its alleged role in disseminating “fake” parallel vote tabulation results of the 2020 parliamentary vote by the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy non-governmental organisation. 

The official also highlighted the assembly of the Parliament required attendance of 76 MPs to reach a quorum, a threshold met by the ruling party’s 89 mandates alone. “If there is no opposition, this is not an obstacle either. The Parliament will meet and recognise the powers of all 150 MPs, thus constituting the Parliament”, he stressed. 

In closing, Papuashvili reaffirmed the Georgian Government’s stance “against disinformation”, concluding, “it is important for us to react to any misinformation, and most importantly, to uphold the constitutional order of Georgia”.