Former president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Rasa Juknevičienė believes that the promise of loans to the population of Georgia is bribing voters.

She made this assessment in an interview with the Georgian  bureau of the  Voice of America.

"I heard about it. Last week I met with Georgian MPs in Halifax and they explained to me what this gesture meant. Of course, this is a bribery. It"s impossible to see it differently and it"s unacceptable, "said Rasa Yuknevichienne.

As it is known, according to the decision of the Government of Georgia, the bank debts of more than 600 000 people in the "Black List" will be paid.

Moreover, as she noted, "If we compare this election with the 2012 elections, there is not a big step forward, but the step backwards."

In assessing the first round of the presidential elections in Georgia, she noted that the administrative resources were very disproportionate in favor of only one candidate in the pre-election period.

"First of all, I was fortunate and proud to attend the first round of Georgian presidential elections together with other international observers as the head of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation. Georgia is one of priorities personally for me, the Lithuanian and NATO Parliamentary Assembly. There is no doubt that in terms of democracy and reforms, Georgia is a leader in the region and is standing next to the Balkan states that have similar goals. On the other hand, we have a lot of concerns. The elections went on smoothly but during the election campaign, when the temperature was high, the problems emerged. We saw that the use of administrative resources in favor of one candidate was very disproportionate. This is not good for democracy. In addition, some media outlets were inappropriately used in support of only one candidate. If we compare it to the 2012 elections, there is not a big step forward, but the step backwards. During the press conference I talked about use of administrative resources to maintain power. This is not useful for Georgia"s future. I"m sure, it will not affect Georgia"s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, but I see signs that are concerning, "said Rasa Juknevičienė.