Shalva Papuashvili says that the US is undergoing a process which makes it necessary for each embassy to publish every cent spent on elections and political processes within their country.

US Embassies Should Be Transparent About Election Funding, Says Georgian Speaker

The speaker of the Georgian parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, has written on Facebook that US embassies should reveal how much money they spend on elections and internal politics. He says this is necessary because the new US administration has admitted to using American aid money to support “false ideologies”.

Papuashvili’s statement comes after the US government acknowledged that it had used foreign aid to promote its own interests in other countries. This has raised questions about the honesty of other countries’ spending in Georgia.

The speaker says that if the largest donor (the US) can admit to using aid money for these purposes, then other donor countries should also be transparent about their spending in Georgia. He urges opposition parties and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in these countries to investigate how their taxpayers’ money is being used.

Papuashvili also criticizes the European Union for not being transparent enough. He says that the EU’s funding of a group called the European Endowment for Democracy should be made public, but the EU ambassador refused his request. The speaker believes this was just an excuse and that the EU has more to hide.

A separate issue is the use of foreign funds in Georgia’s elections. Papuashvili says that there were allegations of illegal spending by parties during the 2024 elections, which led to a suspension of an investigation into foreign donors.