United National Movement clarifies Didgoroba mishap

On August 14, the United National Movement released a statement imposing “stringent rules regarding the use of administrative resources.”

The statement reads that the United National Movement held Didgoroba celebrations and a campaign event in Didgori Valley on August 12. The celebration was scheduled from 10 am to 12:30 p.m. A public event by the Tetritskaro municipality was planned at 1:00pm. However, the celebrations did not conclude on time and lasted until 2:00 pm due to a large numbers of party activists and volunteers. This created an unfortunate situation in which the party campaign event coincided with the municipality-sponsored celebration for one-hour.

In addition to UNM activists and volunteers, various government officials were in attendance of the celebration. This left the unfortunate impression that the event organized by the Tetritskaro municipality was in fact part of a UNM campaign event. Concerns and questions were raised, including by the Inter-agency Task Force for Free and Fair Elections.

“We have repeatedly stated that our aim is to win in free and fair elections and we call other political parties to join in the Electoral Code of Conduct. The United National Movement, as a political force with high responsibility, is committed to complying with these rules. It is for this reason that we have decided to compensate the expenses accrued by the Tetritskaro municipality during the Didgoroba celebration by using our party’s funds. In addition, we want to state that every contribution to the financing of our party’s events; our activists, volunteers, transportation and food costs, has been in full compliance with the legislation and are publicly available,” the statement reads.