Cases of alleged vote buying in Tbilisi

According to an article published by the InterPressNews news agency on June 9 this year, on the initiative of Tevdore Kobakhidze, Chairperson of the Legal Issues Commission of the Tbilisi City Council, “teachers of the schools of the Vake District will be given free diagnostic tests.” To study this fact in detail, we applied to the Tbilisi City Council, requesting information about the planned initiative and its budget.          

According to the reply provided by the Tbilisi City Council, the free diagnostic testing of school teachers of the Vake District was not carried out with the 2016 budget funds of the Tbilisi Municipality; the testing was organized by N(N)LE Georgian Dream – Healthy Future, which, according to the Tbilisi City Council, was planning to take various measures in various districts of the capital.

Later, on June 30 this year, the media reported that “on the initiative of Rima Beridze, up to 200 teachers of public schools were given free medical tests.” This information was posted on the website and Facebook page of the Tbilisi City Council, and was also broadcast by Imedi TV. The testing involved up to 200 school employees. According to Ramina Beridze, Chairperson of the Georgian Dream – For Democratic Georgia faction of the Tbilisi City Council, “the medical assistance will be offered to teachers in various medical areas, and the tests will be carried out by medical professionals specializing in 22 areas. The tests will continue in the future and will also involve teachers in kindergartens.”