Transparency International Georgia has announced that it won’t be able to monitor the October 26 parliamentary elections under its own name, after the Tbilisi City Court upheld the decision of the Anti-Corruption Bureau to declare the organization and its Executive Director Eka Gigauri as entities with declared electoral goals.
TI-Georgia notes that despite the fact that the Court found the organization’s request to suspend the decision inadmissible, “the Court is continuing the proceedings to invalidate the decision of the Anti-Corruption Bureau.”
TI-Georgia’s statement expresses concern that it is being treated as a political party, even though it does not participate in elections or runs for office. As a result of this decision, the organization and its Executive Director are subject to political party regulations. This includes an obligation to establish an election fund, a ban on receiving or using Western funding, and a requirement to submit financial reports like political parties.
“TI Georgia refuses to recognize the above-mentioned status that was imposed on us in an absolutely illegal manner. We would like to stress once again that neither the organization nor its executive director are running for election. In addition, none of our representatives appear in any political party lists. Therefore, we refuse to comply with the requirements imposed by the Georgian Dream’s Anti-Corruption Bureau,” reports the watchdog.
The organization underlines that it has “no doubt” that this decision is directed against the watchdog’s efforts to “observe the elections through a coalition and the observation mission ‘My Voice’ .”
“Even though we have not been formally deprived of the status of an election observer organization, we are in effect unable to directly observe the October 26 Parliamentary elections on behalf of Transparency International Georgia. This is the first time in the 24 years of TI Georgia’s existence that we will not have a single observer registered under our name at the polling stations,” reports TI Georgia.
The watchdog notes that every employee of the organization will use its “experience, knowledge and intellectual resources to assist the observation mission ‘My Voice’ and to help our partner organizations to conduct a highly qualified election observation mission,” and concludes by stating: “We continue to fight for the European future of our homeland! We will protect everyone’s votes!”
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