Documents

Local elections

Social media monitoring final report – 2021 local elections

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ISFED monitored the activity of political parties and candidates on social media during the 2021 local elections, looking at Facebook's library of political advertisements. According to the Facebook standard, all political and election advertisements are subject to declaration. However, false declarations and changed information manipulation tactics are still used. In parallel with the official campaign of Election Subjects on Facebook and other less popular platforms, discrediting messages were still actively spread via mostly anonymous actors.

 

Local elections

Second interim report pre-election monitoring

ISFED
Georgia

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ISFED presents its second interim report ahead of the 2 October local elections covering the pre-election campaign. ISFED reported several violations and noted that the dynamics of the current pre-election campaign were significantly shaken by the reveal of covert surveillance by the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) on school principals and teachers. ISFED reported on imbalances in the staffing of PECs and the growing severity of violations as well as instances of violence ahead of E-Day.

 

Policy Alert

Local Elections in Georgia and the existing legal and political framework

EPDE
Georgia

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Changes to the electoral legislation made in line with the April 19 Agreement pledged to ease the political crisis and restore trust in electoral reform. Changes included increasing the number of non-partisan appointees throughout election commissions and limiting the party’s ability to withdraw members of the district election commissions. Legislation partially met some of the OSCE recommendations, however, it is not expected that the existing legislative provisions will minimize political polarization.

 

Local elections

First interim report pre-election monitoring

ISFED
Georgia

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International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) conducted monitoring of pre-election period for 2 October, 2021 Local Self-government Elections. The first interim report covers the composition of election commissions, the Advisory Group to the CEC, the appointment of new CEC members, and the election environment and media environment. 

 

Local elections

Amendments to the Election Code - Assessment and recommendations

ISFED
Georgia

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The document presents final joint assessment by International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) and Transparency International Georgia of the main changes made by the Parliament of Georgia to the Election Code. In addition, the document discusses recommendations that should be taken into account after the 2021 local self-government elections.

 

Parliamentary elections

Final monitoring report of the 2020 parliamentary elections

ISFED
Georgia

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ISFED concludes in its final monitoring report that the Election Day was managed effectively and in compliance with the legal requirements. Despite the extreme surge of Covid-19 cases, voters were provided with a safe environment to cast their votes. However, the prevalence of cases of vote-buying / bribery / intimidation, misuse of state resources, domination of the ruling party in the election commissions, discrepancies in the summary protocols, and ineffective handling of complaints and appeals, significantly undermined public trust in electoral processes.

 

Policy Alert

Post-Election political standstill, flawed electoral complaint practices, and the one-party parliament

EPDE
Georgia

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Source: REUTERS /Irakli Gedenidze

The second round of elections cemented the victory of the Georgian Dream (GD). Despite the opposition boycotting the elections, violations persisted. The first session of the Parliament convened in absence of the opposition and parties saw some annulling of their mandates. The DG pledge for an early election if there was one percent deviation in its favour, did not go forward. The statistical analysis corroborated some of the observers’ findings, highlighting trends of discrepancies. The court practices also indicated political bias and undue consideration of complaints and appeals.

 

EPDE Publication

Money and politics – need for new rules of the game

EPDE

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In recent years, election experts observed significant increase of spending on election campaigns. The transparency of party and campaign financing became one of the key requirements to ensure the integrity of today's election processes. To raise awareness about the urgent need to increase transparency, our newest comparative study analyzes the regulation and oversight of political party and campaign financing in the EU - Eastern Partnership and Russian Federation.

 

Policy Alert

Public outcry and excessive use of force amid flawed Parliamentary Elections

EPDE
Georgia

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Source: euractiv.com [Zurab Kurtsikidze/EPA/EFE]

In our latest policy alert, we analyse how District Election Commissions failed to adequately respond to the substantive violations detected in the summary protocols aggravating public distrust over the electoral process. This, and other recorded violations sparked a public outcry calling for the resignation of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission and snap elections. Amidst these developments the Georgian authorities have unlawfully dispersed crowds using water cannons, amounting to an excessive use of force.

 

Policy Alert

Georgia to investigate physical attacks and intimidation of political party candidates, women, and journalists

EPDE
Georgia

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Souce: Twitter of Anna Dolidze

Georgia’s 2020 Parliamentary pre-election period is marked with high polarization amid constantly emerging allegations of physical violence and intimidation against political party candidates and its supporters. Orchestrated attacks include threats against journalists, who are being unlawfully prevented from doing their job, and intimidation of female candidates disproportionately targeted based on their gender.

 

Parliamentary elections

Fourth interim report of pre-election monitoring

ISFED
Georgia

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ISFED stated in their fourth monitoring report of the election campaign that intimidation, harassment, and interference with participants in the election remain to be the greatest challenge. Unauthorized individuals have participated in election campaigning and possible cases of use of administrative resources and vote-buying have been identified. During the formation of PECs ISFED observed that these were done mostly pro forma and opposition requests were ignored.

 

Parliamentary elections

Third interim report of pre-election monitoring

ISFED
Georgia

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According to ISFED, signs of possible vote buying and use of administrative resources during the reporting period continues to be the main challenge of the election environment. ISFED found use of administrative resources in involvement of the ruling party’s majoritarian candidates in events funded by the State and local budgets. It appears that the ruling Georgian Dream party is trying to use all available administrative resources for electoral purposes.

 

Parliamentary elections

Second interim report of pre-election monitoring

ISFED
Georgia

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ISFED identified 8 cases of alleged vote buying; cases of dismissal based on possible political motive in 5 municipalities; 5 cases of intimidation/harassment based on possible political motive; 2 cases of possible use of administrative resources; 2 cases of withholding social assistance based on possible political discrimination; 1 case of intimidation of ISFED observer; 1 case of interference in political activities and in pre-election campaigning by the Church; and 1 case of creating obstacles for registration of a political party.

 

Parliamentary elections

2020 Parliamentary elections - first interim report of pre-election monitoring

ISFED
Georgia

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During the reporting period, ISFED identified 19 cases of possible vote buying, including 16 by majoritarian members of the Georgian Parliament and 3 by the Movement for Future, 2 cases of possible use of state resources, 1 case of exerting pressure on ISFED observer, 2 cases of interference in political activities and one case of political pressure/intimidation.

 

Parliamentary elections

Evaluation of the pre-election environment for the 2020 Parliamentary elections

ISFED
Georgia

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This report evaluates the political and media landscape in the country ahead of the 2020 Parliamentary elections. Although the adoption of constitutional amendments on the electoral system avoided further tension and protests, political polarization remains as a challenge. The media environment, as well as political environment, is very polarized and continues to face challenges related to media freedom and pluralism. It is likely that these factors will also influence pre-election campaigning.

 
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