NGO: Zourabichvili Got 5-Times More Financial Donations Than Vashadze

Non-governmental organization Transparency International (TI) Georgia says before the runoff of the October 28 Presidential elections, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) supported candidate Salome Zourabichvili received 5-times more financial donations that the candidate of the United Opposition, Grigol Vashadze.

According to the NGO, from 1 August until November 19, the donations received by Salome Zourabichvili amounted to GEL 8,998,948 while GEL 1,243,366 was received by Grigol Vashadze.

As for the donations before the runoff, from 28 October until 19 November, the two main electoral entities received the total of GEL 4,128,323 in donations, including GEL 3,592,724 (87 percent) received by Salome Zurabishvili and GEL 535,599 (13 percent) received by Grigol Vashadze.

TI says 621 persons made donations to Salome Zourabichvili, out of them 157 previously made donations to other political parties as well.

The NGO also stated that compared to the pre-election period leading up to the first round of the presidential elections, the scale of the use of administrative resources for electoral purposes has increased considerably in the run-up to the second round, which could significantly affect the election results.

The Interim Report of the TI Georgia also reads that during the period covered by the report, violent incidents, as well as alleged dismissals and threats of dismissal from work for political reasons, have been recorded.

“After the first round, election-related violent incidents became more frequent. The response by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to these instances was meaningful,” the NGO said.

Transparency says the trend of forcing the employees of the budget-funded organizations to create lists of Salome Zourabichvili’s supporters and become involved in campaigning which prevailed in the run-up to the first round, continued during the period leading up to the second round as well.

“The increase in the number of instances of alleged bribery of voters has become particularly striking,” the organization stressed.

The NGO’s report also includes the government’s recent initiative about the annulment of bank debts of around 600,000 citizens who are also on the so-called “Black Lists” because they could not pay back the bank loans.

The project is being carried out with the support of Cartu Foundation, established by the founder and the Chair of the ruling GD, Bidzina Ivanishvili.

“This initiative differs from other cases as the source of the financing is a private foundation, which points at bribing voters,” TI said.

The NGO urges the Prosecutor’s Office to thoroughly investigate the case.

“The government must refrain from initiating large-scale social programs shortly before elections in order to avoid damaging healthy competition between the electoral entities,” the report reads.