New Rights Snub Inter-Agency Group on Elections

A senior New Rights Party lawmaker said it was pointless to cooperate with the inter-agency group set up by acting President Nino Burjanadze to secure free and fair elections.

“It is hard to believe that the authorities, who have been laying the ground for electoral fraud – already there have been violations in the pre-election campaign – really need such a commission to guarantee fair elections,” MP Manana Nachkebia of the New Rights Party told Rustavi 2 TV on December 19. “We think that cooperation with such a commission is pointless.”

The inter-agency group, chaired by Justice Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili, was set up, according to the authorities, to act as a rapid reaction mechanism to possible violations during the election campaign.

The group was expected to meet with opposition leaders on December 19; the meeting, however, has been canceled.

“This meeting will not be held today because one opposition group is in the provinces campaigning, and another has voiced its mistrust towards the group,” MP Irina Kurdadze, a spokesperson for the acting president, told journalists on December 19.

The acting president, Nino Burjanadze, said that the group did not warrant such mistrust.