Observers
As of today, 3335 people have registered as election observers. The process of interviewing and training them is underway. 25 training sessions have already been conducted for 800 selected applicants. The registration process will continue until October 19.
Pressure on voters
Last week, the observation mission – “My Vote” responded to the instances of confiscation of the personal IDs of voters. In particular, according to information reported by several sources, representatives of the ruling party took away the identity documents of the employees in the public sector, as well as socially vulnerable people. Such reports were provided from Zugdidi, Kvareli, Kutaisi, and Tbilisi which shows widespread nature of this practice. Use of these methods by the government instills fear in voters, and is a criminal offense.
On October 12, 2024, new evidence of the misuse of administrative resources became known through a journalistic investigation, which was covered by the media (shown in the broadcast of the “Nodar Meladze Saturday” TV program). Apparently, people employed in public institutions are en masse asked to collect their and family members’ personal information for the benefit of “Georgian Dream” and then send the information to the ruling party for further processing. The special secret list, found by journalist, includes the personal data of the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, Gardabani Municipality City Hall, Oil and Gas Corporation, Air Navigation, Airports Union and their family members – their names surnames, personal identification numbers, addresses and phone numbers.
These instances raise reasonable suspicions that there is pressure on voters, including civil servants, to vote for the “Georgian Dream” against their will. Signs of illegal acquisition and use of personal data, influence on the will of the voters, excessive use and abuse of authority, offenses coded in Criminal Code of Georgia Article 157, 1644, 322, and 333 are identified. Public dissemination of such information should be the basis for the initiation of the investigation, however, until now the investigative agencies have failed to provide any clarification regarding measures they have taken. We appeal to the Special Investigation Service and the Prosecutor’s Office to immediately start an investigation into the matters mentioned above and provide the public with information about the conducted investigation measures as soon as possible, since such matters seriously harm both the rights of each voter and the election in general.
Anti-Corruption Bureau
According to the statistics published by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the “Georgian Dream” party has received additional 592,000 GEL in donations. These new donor companies have received 17 million GEL from state purchases. Additionally, they have received subsidies of up to 1 million GEL from various state programs. We, once again, call on the Anti-Corruption Bureau, [which has disappeared from the public space after revoking its illegal decision against civil society organizations and their leaders based on the instructions given by the Prime Minister] to investigate the financial activities of the ruling party and their donors.
Communications Regulatory Commission Actions
The actions of the Communications Regulatory Commission against critical media channels are troubling. Three channels – “Formula”, “Mtavari Channel”, and “TV First” – refused to advertise the content of the “Georgian Dream” due to the manipulative nature of the Russian war in Ukraine ad; the Communication Regulatory Commission fined them. Before this, the same channels refused to air another election clip of the “Georgian Dream” on the topic of war that depicted representatives of the opposition parties and the civil society. We would like to remind the Communications Regulatory Commission of Article 63, Clause 2 of the Law of Georgia “On Broadcasting”, according to which it is prohibited to place inappropriate, dishonest, untrustworthy, unethical and obviously false advertisements. Article 56 of the same law, which prohibits “propaganda of war in any form” and Article 552, which prohibits incitement of violence and hatred (use of hate speech) in advertising, including on the basis of political or other views.
Last week, TV Channels “Georgian Public Broadcaster” and “Formula” recognized the party “Gakharia for Georgia” as a qualified election entity and expressed their consent to place free political advertising. The Communications Regulatory Commission created artificial barriers for this process; barring “Georgian Public Broadcaster” to air the ad, and declared “Formula” as a lawbreaker. According to Article 51 of the Election Code, a broadcaster is authorized to recognize a political party as a qualified election entity that has at least 4% support, based on public opinion surveys conducted in accordance with the rules established by the Election Code. A qualified election entity has the right to place free political advertising.
