Reports

Policy Alert

New Voting Technologies in Georgia’s Parliamentary Elections

EPDE
Georgia

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Georgia is scheduled to hold much-anticipated parliamentary elections on October 26, 2024. This time around 90 percent of Georgian citizens will vote in polling stations using electronic means: special voter verification equipment will be used to check voter identity; voters will fill in paper ballots and feed the ballot into optical ballot scanners. The author - Tamara Sartania - provides insights into the experience of using voting technologies in Georgia, legal framework, public information campaigns, and opinions of observer organizations.

 

Policy Alert

Outlook ahead of Georgia’s Parliamentary Elections

EPDE
Georgia

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As Georgia prepares for its upcoming parliamentary elections on October 26, 2024, significant changes are underway. This election marks a historic shift to a fully proportional electoral system, with all 150 members of parliament set to be elected in a single nationwide constituency under a 5% threshold. A notable feature is the widespread adoption of electronic voting technologies at most polling stations, a first for country-wide elections. However, amidst these advancements, questions linger over the mandate of key members in the election administration, creating a deadlock in the parliamentary process.

Independent international consultant Tamara Sartania provides insight into electoral system, election administration, electronic voting technologies, undecided voters and heated rhetoric.

 

Challenges for election campaign finance in Georgia

ISFED
Georgia

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EPDE member ISFED published a study on financial challenges for Georgian political parties and election campaigns. The study aims to identify the financial challenges for the election campaigns of the political parties during the elections, as well as invisible barriers for regional politicians, women, representatives of ethnic minorities, and independent candidates.

 

Electoral systems for Georgia's representative bodies

ISFED
Georgia

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EPDE member ISFED published a policy paper which evaluates electoral systems for three levels of representative bodies in Georgia – the Parliament of Georgia, Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, and Municipal Councils - and proposes solutions to their shortcomings. The policy paper is produced with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

 

Policy Alert

Law on Foreign Agents in Georgia is an attack against civil society

EPDE
Georgia

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The European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) voices its severe concern over the draft bill “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” in Georgia. The stigmatization of non-governmental organizations as "foreign agents" marks the next stage in the Georgian parliamentary majority's fight against civil society. The draft law is based on the Russian example, where a similar law was introduced a decade earlier and led to the de facto liquidation of NGOs involved in monitoring political and social processes and, first and foremost, monitoring elections.

 

Manual for the media identifying fake election observers

EPDE

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This manual helps journalists identify politically biased or "fake" election observers during election processes.

 

EPDE Publication

Media and Freedom of Expression in the EU – Eastern Partnership and Russian Federation

EPDE

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This report is published at a time of Russian invasion of Ukraine. It underscores the central role of freedom of expression in the maintenance of democracy at home, as well as international order and security abroad. This report provides the analysis and conclusions on the state of freedom of expression and the work of the media in seven countries of the EU Eastern Neighborhood, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia.

 

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.

 
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