Regarding David Lee's remarks
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, stated that David Lee's statements were scandalous but not surprising and also noted that Carl Hartzell, the former US Ambassador to Georgia, and Andrius Kubilius, Member of the European Parliament (MEP), had done even worse things.
Kobakhidze stated that pressuring businesses was the mistake of the United National Movement and its adherents.
Earlier, David Lee, the Co-founder European Business Association in Georgia, said that Andrius Kubilius had sent a letter instructing the former EU Ambassador "not to cooperate with the European Business Association in Georgia due to my political remarks." "Ambassador Carl Hartzell summoned me to his office in April and informed me that he would no longer collaborate with us if I continued to serve as Executive Director. I gave up. The pressure is wrong," he added.
Regarding MEPs' Address to President
Irakli Kobakhidze responded to draft amendments to the report concerning Georgia's implementation of the EU Association Agreement by claiming that there is a global war party whose representatives are abhorrent MEPs and whose sole motivation is to provoke the processes taking place in Georgia.
Kobakhidze said, "Although some odious MEPs are attempting to make utterly unnecessary and fraudulent revisions, the resolution's main wording is fair and accurately depicts Georgia's progress in implementing the Association Agreement."
"These individuals are directly involved in the overall coordination, the purpose of which is to open up a second front in Georgia, and these initiatives are linked to everything else. One of the changes proposed by these repulsive MEPs has to do with the absence of sanctions on Russia by Georgia. We are fully aware that this is just another move meant to include Georgia in the conflict occurring in the area. "Of course, we each have our interests, and society as a whole has its objectives, so any attempt to deviate from this road would fail," Irakli Kobakhidze explained.
When questioned if his words might be construed as implying that some political groups aiming to topple the government have their sympathizers abroad, Kobakhidze said that the United National Movement (UNM) lacks such resources. "The UNM has no allies outside the country; these people are allies of each other, and people will understand what I mean by that. Of course, they are not lobbyists for the National Movement, and the Movement has no resources to work on the foreign flank at such a level. They are allies of each other; the UNM is more of an ally of these people than they are allies of the UNM; those who are capable will understand it," Kobakhidze added.
Regarding the Recent International Republican Institute (IRI) Survey
The leader of the Georgian Dream party responded when asked whether he trusted the most recent IRI survey on Georgia: "You know that we have our attitude toward these studies, first and foremost because the company that conducts research work for IRI has a very dubious reputation."
According to Irakli Kobakhidze, the IPM, which conducted the fieldwork, is inextricably linked to the UNM. "This connection [with the UNM] has existed for years, and unfortunately, our doubts are sometimes expressed in specific data, including personal ratings, Orthodox church ratings, etc. "It is very easy to see here that there is a certain interest in manipulation," Kobakhidze added.
The leader of the Georgian Dream pointed out, "Actually, IPM never publishes party ratings with allocation." According to him, it is very easy to allocate this data. However, they do not do this to leave room for speculation, which is actively used by the radical opposition. "Allocation means that any sociological company can sum up the ratings of all parties to 100 percent. They do not do this because they leave room for speculation that 40% of voters are undecided, which can be directed toward the opposition. These are simple speculations, and that's why they deliberately leave space," added Kobakhidze.
According to the Chairman of the ruling party, every time IPM publishes similar data, concrete results are obtained at the elections, which proves that every second Georgian citizen supports the Georgian Dream. "Thanks to this support, the Georgian Dream always managed to get convincing victories, be it in parliamentary or local self-government elections. Every time, before the elections, there were such speculations; however, every time, they and their supporters remained frustrated because the radical opposition always deceived their voters, including by using these studies," Kobakhidze concluded.
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Irakli Kobakhidze Condemns Georgian Public Defender
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