"This is a victory for the Georgian civil sector; however, let's see how the anti-corruption bureau will respond," stated Eka Gigauri, the executive director of Transparency International - Georgia, in reaction to today's statement by the Prime Minister. Kobakhidze urged the anti-corruption bureau to consider it expedient to remove the status of "entity with declared election aims" from the non-governmental organization. Additionally, he urged the bureau to refrain from granting similar status to organizations until after the parliamentary elections.
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As Eka Gigauri says, Kobakhidze's call acknowledges that the agency under his authority made a decision without a legal basis.
"I believe they realized that the anti-corruption bureau made an absolutely absurd decision; it had no basis, and it would be very difficult to explain it to everyone.
If these elections were left without observation missions, obviously, too many questions would be raised regarding the legitimacy of the results, including from our international partners. Perhaps this was one of the reasons for this decision.
Of course, this is a step back; however, let's see how the anti-corruption bureau will respond," Gigauri said on TV Pirveli.
Eka Gigauri stated that if the aforementioned status is suspended, Transparency International - Georgia will continue its activities as usual.
On September 24, the anti-corruption bureau recognized Transparency International - Georgia and its executive director, Eka Gigauri, as "entities with declared electoral aims," meaning that the regulations established for political parties would be extended to them. The Tbilisi City Court did not halt Rajden Kuprashvili's decision.
At a briefing held on September 30, representatives of the non-governmental organization announced that they would not comply with the groundless decision. According to them, due to the situation created, they are deprived of the opportunity to observe the parliamentary elections directly on behalf of Transparency International - Georgia. "In the 24 years of our organization's existence, this is the first time we will not have a single observer registered under our name at polling stations," the organization stated.
On October 1, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze asked the Anti-Corruption Bureau to review its decision to grant the status of an organization with declared electoral goals to Transparency International - Georgia and other relevant entities "to avoid external manipulation in the election process." In addition, Kobakhidze believes that Eka Gigauri's organization has a declared electoral goal, and the decision of the Anti-Corruption Bureau is "based on the highest standard of honesty."
Kobakhidze's statement was preceded by an evaluation from the monitoring mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which stated that the "deplorable decision" of the Anti-Corruption Bureau undermines public confidence in the democracy of the electoral process.
