On 1 September 2023, the Political Finance Monitoring Department, the agency responsible for the oversight of party and campaign finance in Georgia, moved from the State Audit Office to the Anti-Corruption Bureau. The Anti-Corruption Bureau was established in response to European Commission recommendations on Georgia’s application for membership of the European Union. The transition is aimed at further strengthening the oversight functions.

On 29 September 2023, a Council of Europe training session supported the Anti-corruption Bureau management and departmental staff in discussing new approaches and solutions for improving the operational capacity of the agency. Participants learned about recent changes to the electoral legal framework and practices, with a focus on effective redress mechanisms for violations of party and campaign finance regulations during electoral campaign. The training sessions included case studies from domestic common court practice.

The objective of the training was to enhance the capacities of the enlarged staff of the Political Finance Monitoring Department during a very significant period of transition. Securing legality and transparency of political finance is an important component of the upcoming electoral campaign for the 2024 Parliamentary elections.

The training was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Supporting Transparency, Inclusiveness and Integrity of Electoral Practice and Process in Georgia”.