Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) publishes a blog post: Misuse of administrative resources during the 2020 elections of the Parliament of Georgia - Interim report. Along with its conclusions the organization provides the following recommendations: “It is essential to have election commissions perceive election campaigning through social networks as a violation of law and make appropriate decisions; The government should refrain from initiating large-scale social programs shortly before the elections in order not to harm healthy competition between electoral subjects”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes a report: State of the judiciary 2016-2020. “Present report contains a review of significant developments and legislative changes that have taken place in the judiciary system over the last four years, which provides an opportunity to both make their systemic analysis and evaluate situation existing within the judiciary. It may be noted that implemented reforms did not address those fundamental issues, which would ultimately ensure establishment of the independent judiciary system. The government has failed to demonstrate the political will to carry out a full and fundamental reform of the judiciary. Respectively, the judiciary system is still not freed from unhealthy influences”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes its comments on a resolution passed by the Central Election Commission to regulate an issue of participation of “coronavirus”-infected inpatient and isolated voters in the elections, however, the organization considers that the resolution contains a number of shortcomings. “1) Inclusion of people, who are in self-isolation or undergoing treatment at home, into the mobile ballot box list only if they apply to the CEC from October 24 through October 26 is unjustifiable, because such voters will not be able to vote if they do not manage to apply in time. 2) Voting will be carried out only through a portable ballot box. We consider that it would be better to set up special polling stations in those inpatient and quarantine facilities, which count more than 30 voters, thus allowing to make the voting process more transparent and better monitored”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On October 22, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) presented the fifth interim report on pre-election monitoring of the October 31, 2020 elections of the Parliament of Georgia. “According to the appraisal of the organization, main challenges to the electoral environment remain to be facts of pressure / threatening / obstruction committed against voters, activists and opposition politicians”. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes a report: Corruption and anti-corruption policy in Georgia: 2016-2020 years. “The report contains a review the current situation in terms of corruption and anti-corruption policy in Georgia in 2016-2020 years. The document focuses on the following issues: corruption indicators; anti-corruption policy documents, legislation and implementation; fulfillment of international anti-corruption commitments; possible cases of high-level corruption and political corruption”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes the analysis: World Governance Indicators - Georgia according to the World Bank 2020 estimate. Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) constitute a research database based on over 30 data sources reflecting the views and evaluations stemming from citizens, entrepreneurs, and experts. The purpose of this analytical document is to introduce Georgia’s rankings to the public, detect strong and weak sides of Georgia’s development, highlight achieved progress and compare Georgia’s results with those of European countries. Georgia obtained the highest assessment in World Governance Indicators in 2013-2014. Prior to this date, indicators demonstrated the steady and rapid development of Georgia. During this period especially noticeable was Georgia’s progress in the areas of Rule of Law and Control of Corruption. According to the World Governance Indicators, the pace of the county’s development significantly slowed down since 2014. According to the latest assessment of the World Bank, Georgia has advanced in the area of Government Effectiveness, however, regress was detected in all of the rest five directions. In addition, Georgia was able to return to 2014 results in 2018 in the area of control of corruption and in 2019 its score reduced again. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) publishes a document, which represents a comparative legal analysis of experiences of legislative bodies of 12 EU member states and that of the Parliament of Georgia. “A group of researchers revealed more than 60 shortcomings identified in both norms and their implementation processes, and provided the same number of specific recommendations for resolving them. Within the framework of the study, there have been examined interpellation, questions of members of the Parliament, government hour, reports of the Prime Minister and ministers, trust group, trust-distrust mechanism, impeachment, committee control, thematic investigation, temporary and temporary investigative commissions, working group, as well as functions of state security, intelligence and special state protection services and norms governing appointment of their superiors to their positions”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. ISFED mobile app is up and running. Download here: iOS… Android... ISFED mobile app is bilingual and targets every interested person who wants to receive information and notifications about the election process, pre-election monitoring, ISFED's election day activities etc. App users will also be able to report incidents. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy has set up a Godo Election Bot - Facebook chatbot to talk about Election Day procedures, the electoral system, irregularities, techniques of fighting against disinformation and etc. To activate the chatbot, go to the page of Godo... and send a private message. Read more... Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Civil society organization call on investigative and security agencies of Georgia, as well as the Audit Office to respond adequately to information regarding the “Alliance of Patriots” publicized by “Dossier”. “”Dossier”, a platform for investigative journalism, which aims at exposing criminal groups of the Kremlin, published two reports on August 24 and 31. The reports emphasize links, as well as financial relations between the “Alliance of Patriots of Georgia” and the Kremlin. As “Dossier” affirms, the reports are based on documents obtained from the secretariat of Vladimir Chernov, Head of the Directorate for Inter-Regional Relations and Cultural Contacts with Foreign Countries at the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, and reveal a network that is close to the Kremlin and oversees relations with the “Alliance of Patriots”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Center in the frame of the project “Monitoring 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Georgia” publishes an article: Donations from Business MP Candidates - Investing in Future Tenders. "There is a significant trend evident in 2020 elections. Most of the majoritarian candidates nominated by the parties are big businessmen or the donors of the parties. According to a survey published by Transparency International Georgia on September 11, 2020, more than half of the majoritarian candidates nominated by Georgian Dream 19 out of 30 are engaged in entrepreneurial activities. These candidates, in turn, are in some way connected with 186 companies. Major donors are also the family members and partners of the majoritarian candidates. Fourteen out of 30 majoritarian candidates were personally donating to Georgian Dream", is note din the article. Read more... Source: humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) presented its I interim report on pre-election monitoring of social media in the context of the 2020 parliamentary elections. “Within the reporting period, ISFED has revealed 10 fake media sites that disseminate pro-government and anti-opposition messages. As a result of observation, it has been found that fake media sites do intensively sponsor their own posts, however, they do not properly declare costs of political advertisements and attempt to circumvent Facebook regulations. Openly discrediting Facebook groups act mainly against two political parties – “Georgian Dream” and “United National Movement””, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. According to the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), the Global Innovation Index (GII) provides a ranking of up to 130 countries by their capacities for innovation. Through up to 80 indicators grouped into 7 categories, GII aims at performing a comprehensive innovation ranking in innovation input and innovation output indices. “The 2020 GII ranking turned to be positive in terms of an innovation development tendency in Georgia as a whole, however, there was also revealed a slowdown in progress. In particular, results deteriorated in 5 categories, if compared to the last year, which fact eventually had a negative impact on the overall rating of the country. The 2020 Global Innovation Index results make it obvious that there is a stagnation in specific areas in terms of economic and innovation development”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. On September 29, “International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy” (ISFED) presented the fourth interim report on pre-election monitoring of the 2020 elections of the Parliament of Georgia. “Main challenges are facts of pressure, threat and obstruction applied against voters, activists and opposition politicians. Sharp increase in the number of such cases, while the day of voting approaches, is a serious problem and harms the ongoing electoral process”, - is stated in the report. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Due to the information of the Transparency International Georgia the mechanism for the monitoring of public officials’ asset declarations went into force in Georgia in 2017. "Prior to that, information disclosed by public officials related to their assets, connections, and finances was not subject to verification. Given these circumstances, it didn’t come as a surprise that the new monitoring mechanism in its inaugural year revealed violations in 80% of the asset declarations that had been selected for verification. The analysis of the results of the first 3 years shows that the monitoring mechanism fulfills only half of its officially assigned functions. The monitoring system is focused entirely on verifying the accuracy and completeness of the declarations and does not aim to reveal a conflict of interest and instances of corruption. It is important for monitoring to fulfill both functions in the future". Read more... Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) & Ilia State University kicked off Certification Program in Fighting Corruption. The 44 students (out of over 300 applicants), representatives of the public, private and non-governmental sectors, will deepen their knowledge on anti-corruption issues and acquire the skills of effective response against the facts of corruption. IDFI has been implementing the program for the second year in partnership with the Ilia State University, under the financial support of the Open Society Institute Budapest Foundation (OSI) and the Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF). Read more... Source: The organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. To promote fair and transparent 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Georgia, CDD signed the code of conduct (Ethics), which provides an agreement between the election administration and local observer organizations on professional and ethical standards. The basic principles of the code of conduct (Ethics) are: political neutrality and impartiality, transparency and accountability, promoting a free and fair electoral environment, proactive cooperation and response, and ensuring a healthy electoral environment during a pandemic. Read more... Source: The organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. Election coverage has become more diverse in recent years, but analytical depth is lacking and some outlets resort to gender stereotypes. These are some of the findings released today by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from the first 11 weeks of monitoring of mass media coverage of the upcoming parliamentary elections.  The monitoring is implemented by UNDP in partnership with three Georgian civil society organizations: the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, Internews Georgia, and CRRC-Georgia. It covers 43 different media outlets, including 12 television stations, 10 radio stations, 8 print newspapers, and 13 online editions. It also looks into the ways that Georgian media organizations connect with their readers on Facebook, analyzing what kind of electoral news gets most of the social media outreach, including through the Facebook pages associated with political parties, officials and politicians. A separate report prepared by CRRC-Georgia examines how Georgian television stations are covering foreign influence on Georgian electoral processes.  Media coverage of the Georgian political landscape has expanded to cover a wider range of political parties and actors than in past elections. However, the monitoring also showed that media coverage is largely shaped by the political agendas of the contending forces, focusing on only a few issues and failing to provide in-depth information on topics of potential public interest.  The interim reports released today cover 11 weeks of the pre-election period, from 15 June through 31 August.  Read more… Source: eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes analytical material: Cybersecurity reform in Georgia: Current challenges, international practices, and recommendations. “Legislative changes, initiated by Irakli Sesiashvili, a member of the Parliament of Georgia, completely modify the architecture of cybersecurity of the country and arrange critical infrastructure management related issues in a new way. Based on studies of international standards and practices, we would like to emphasize issues that need to be refined and taken into account to help ensure more secure cyberspace”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more…  Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. As Myth Detector informs, on September 18, Zurab Makharadze, one of the presenters of a program of Alt-Info, a Facebook page, spoke about the next United States presidential election. “According to him, the victory of Donald Trump in the United States presidential election will cause anger within Antifa, an international movement, which, as he himself states, is funded by the Open Society Georgia Foundation (so-called Soros Foundation). The statement of Alt-Info, as if the Open Society Georgia Foundation finances the Antifa movement, is disinformation. Antifa, an anti-fascist movement with leftist ideology, is an active participant and organizer of political processes that currently take place in the United States. As PolitiFact and Snopes, fact-finding organizations, as well as the New York Times and Forbes note, there is no evidence that George Soros and/or his organization finance organizers of a protest/disorder in the United States”, - is stated in the material spread by Myth Detector. Read more… Source: www.mythdetector.ge

Tbilisi. On August 17, Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) and the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) submitted a coalition alternative report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to the UN Human Rights Committee. The alternative report has been prepared within the framework of the fifth cycle of review of the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by Georgia. The report evaluates the main developments that took place during the last 6 years in relation to all civil and political rights stipulated by the Covenant, it also appraises the state of implementation of recommendations made by the Committee within the framework of the previous, fourth cycle. Read more… Source: www.gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes analysis of legislation and practice of secret surveillance in Georgia. “Under the current regulations, there is little trust that in the conduct of secret investigative measures state interference in private life would be proportional to its legitimate aim. Lack of trust towards the government is dwelling from its reluctance to address the challenges, which are being highlighted by various international as well as domestic organizations”, is noted in the analytical document. Read more… Source: idfi.ge