The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Wednesday welcomed the Georgian Anti-Corruption Bureau's decision to cancel classifying Transparency International Georgia and its Executive Director, Eka Gigauri, as entities with declared electoral goals.
The move of the Bureau followed Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s call the previous day to reconsider the restrictions to “prevent external manipulations” in the October 26 general elections.
The PM urged the Bureau to reassess its decision over TI Georgia and other organisations with declared electoral goals, and also called on the body to avoid granting such status to groups that “could be leveraged for external manipulation” ahead of the elections.
Speaking at a press briefing early today, Razhden Kuprashvili, the Bureau Head, claimed the decision was taken in the “national interests”.
"No one should be given the opportunity to question the results recorded by the citizens of Georgia in the elections”, the official stressed and claimed his office aimed to “safeguard public trust in the electoral process and, as part of that effort, decided to cancel all previous instructions” targeting Gigauri and her organisation.
