On the day of the local elections – October 2nd, 2021 – the Facebook page “Dzala Simartleshia” [The power lies in truth] has published a quote of Eka Kherkheulidze, a member of the “United National Movement” party. According to the quote, Kherkheulidze encourages the voters to bring their own deodorants at the polling stations since the ballot papers are “printed using unidentified paper brought from Belarus,” which would erase any choice except from 41. Allegedly, in the case of spraying the deodorant on the ballot papers, one could rescue the vote. The picture also showcases the logo of Interpressnews (IPN), creating the impression that the post belongs to IPN.
The alleged quote of Eka Kherkheulidze published by the Facebook page is false. Neither IPN nor any other open-source contains a similar statement made by Eka Kherkheulidze.
No open-source contains information about Eka Kherkheulidze encouraging the population to use this particular method to protect their votes.
Noteworthy, Interpressnews uses a different design while publishing quotes on its Facebook and Instagrampages.
On October 1st, IPN published one quote from Eka Kherkheulidze, who claimed that ex-president Saakashvili was residing in Georgia for 4 days before his arrest.
About “Dzala Simartleshia”
The Facebook page “Dzala Simartleshia” was created on August 14th, 2018. The page predominantly publishes discrediting posts against the opposition and the election observation organization ISFED. In September 2020, the page sponsored a post aimed to discredit the former ruling party, the UNM, and its individual members.
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