Georgian Parliament official rejects Joe Wilson’s OSCE draft resolution as biased and unfounded

Levan Makhashvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on European Integration, on Monday criticised a draft resolution submitted by US Congressman Joe Wilson during his address at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, describing the document as biased and damaging to the credibility of the organisation.

In his remarks, Makhashvili noted that the draft resolution repeats unsubstantiated and unverified allegations regarding Georgia’s parliamentary elections, arguing that the document undermines confidence in the electoral process, despite the OSCE’s stated commitment to protecting election integrity and adhering to the principle of non-interference in electoral affairs.

“The resolution undermines the credibility of the electoral process, which the OSCE is committed to protecting, and contradicts the principle of non-interference in elections by the OSCE. Review the election observation reports from the last ten elections held in OSCE member states and tell me which of them performed better than Georgia in terms of the scale of the problems identified. At the same time, can you name even one country that became the subject of such extensive attention on this forum two years after its elections?” Makhashvili said.

He also expressed concern over what he described as an “obsessive attitude” demonstrated by certain delegates of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, comparing it to the mindset of conspiracy theory adherents often portrayed in fiction.

Makhashvili stated that after reviewing Wilson’s draft resolution, it was difficult to avoid such a conclusion.

“After reading the draft resolution submitted by Mr. Joe Wilson, it is impossible to refrain from making this conclusion. This is not parliamentary diplomacy. This is the instrumentalization of our common platform, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which undermines the very basis of the dialogue that we strive to protect. It is ironic when an American congressman criticises another country for adopting transparency legislation, while his own country has a much stricter FARA law on the registration of foreign agents”, Makhashvili continued.

The Committee Chair also referenced information available in the FARA registry, claiming that Georgia’s former ruling party, the United National Movement, had signed a contract with lobbying firm Nelson Mullins, which he said is also connected to Wilson.

“No matter how surprising it may be, it is in the FARA registry that you can see the contract signed by the former ruling party of Georgia, the United National Movement, with the lobbying company Nelson Mullins, which is also completely coincidentally connected to Mr. Joe Wilson. Separate amendments cannot correct the fundamental and substantive flaws that run throughout the entire document. The majority of the resolution goes beyond the bounds of reasonable assessment. Therefore, the most responsible step would be to reject this resolution in its entirety”, he concluded.