TBILISI, DFWatch – People dressed in National Movement t-shirts are handing out gifts to people Telavi, a town in eastern Georgia. They give them 10 kg of flour, 5 kg of pasta, a bottle of oil and 2 pieces of washing powder.

According to the Informational Center of Kakheti, every family gets these products, while Vazha Zuroshvili, the governor of Telavi municipality, claims that the social support is only for families affected by a hailstorm which wreaked havoc in July.

Irina Urushadze, lawyer working for Transparency International Georgia (TI), said that this is clear case of bribery of voters and that the ruling party is using administrative resources for its election goals.

Bribery of voters can be punished with 3 year in prison, and misuse of administrative resource with a fine of 2 000 GEL.

George Botkoveli, head of the party’s Kakheti office, claims that people who were distributing the gifts were just people passing by who had dressed up in National Movement t-shirts and have no relation with the ruling party.

TI Georgia considers this a clear case of misuse of administrative resources. According to the organization’s last report about election violations, there have been two similar cases.

One of the cases of bribery of voters happened in eastern Georgia. Zurab Otiashvili, majoritarian candidate of the ruling party, gave 500 GEL to one voter and explained that he was only helping a blind boy.