Georgia’s Parliament Speaker alleges coup preparations using NGOs ahead of elections

The Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, on Wednesday claimed that a group was preparing for an alleged coup ahead of the Saturday’s general elections.

In a briefing at the ruling Georgian Dream party’s office, Papuashvili stressed that “no revolution could take place, nor should such actions be glorified”.

The official alleged that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were being used to create a pretext for the coup, as they allegedly did in 2020 by producing what he called “incorrect reports.”

He accused the organizations of running election campaigns and preparing fake reports, such as the controversial parallel vote tabulation (PVT) from 2020, to “foster unrest”.

“They are preparing for a coup, which they planned in 2020 and did not succeed then. For this coup, they are using the very NGOs involved in the election process, making fake reports to create a pretext. Our people should be vigilant, and the best response to such non-Georgian forces is to come to the elections and decisively defeat them,” Papuashvili said.

He also addressed the general election environment, noting the country remained calm, “as reflected in the recent OSCE/ODIHR report”. However, he expressed concern about efforts to create “informational noise” through local monitoring organizations. He highlighted that some of the organizations, “including those recognized by the Anti-Corruption Bureau [Transparency International Georgia, Vote for Europe movement] have clear electoral goals and are involved in campaigns against the ruling party”.

Papuashvili further suggested that recent events, such as the “anti-Georgian Dream election demonstration on October 20”, were financed by foreign entities and designed to repeat the scenario of 2020, in which NGOs “produced false reports to incite unrest”.

“The goal is simple: to write fake reports and create a false pretext for riots. It’s already clear that preparations are being made for an undemocratic takeover, with local watchdog organizations playing a role by producing false accusations and covering up violations from the opposition,” Papuashvili concluded.