Tbilisi. The Media Legal Defence Center of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association offers the assistance to media representatives. It expresses readiness to render legal assistance to media representatives in obtaining the accreditation in the Central Election Commission. Full text Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. On August 13, the Human Rights Center has presented to the public the results of "media monitoring of coverage of parliamentary elections" in the "Sheraton Metekhi Palace" Hotel. The Human Rights Center conducts media monitoring as part of the 4-year project "Building of Trust towards Electoral Processes" funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is implemented by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). Within the project framework, the monitors of the Human Rights Center observe the social and paid political advertisings aired on the following TV channels: Public Broadcaster, "Imedi", "Rustavi 2", "Kavkasia", "Maestro" and "9th Channel". Media monitoring aims to examine the trends of airing the social and political ads by media during the pre-election period, expose the secret political advertisings and to develop recommendations focused on improvement of electoral environment. Report – 18 June - 29 July Source:humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. Local CSO members of the campaign "This Affects You Too" have sent the appeal to international organizations, observers and the diplomatic corps. For details see: http://esshengexeba.ge/#1 Source:esshengexeba.ge

Shida Kartli. On August 7 the Civil Development Agency (CIDA) organized the information meeting in the Gori Democracy Development Center. Local CSOs and guests invited by CIDA have participated in the meeting: representatives of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, ISFED and Transparency International - Georgia. Two issues were discussed: Transparency International - Georgia has presented the results of the report concerning the spending of the central budget during the election year. In addition, the results were compared with the priorities and expenses of the non-election year budgets. Second issue covered the portal www.electionportal.ge set up by the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, ISFED and Transparency International - Georgia. The portal reflects pre-election processes and will also operate on the polling day and afterwards. Any citizen can provide to the portal administration the violation observed by him/her or any other election-related information, photo materials, etc. Based on the received information the portal maintains the map of violations, which is constantly amended and updated. A discussion has followed the presentation of the portal.

Imereti. On August 7, the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has presented the projects "Know Who to Elect and For What" and "My Voice in Parliament" in the office of the Civic Engagement Center. The duration of the project "Know Who to Elect and For What is 5 months and it aims at informing the third sectors and increasing their involvement. As part of this project it is planned to have field meetings with the population, as well as to deliver various trainings to mass media and the third sector. The second project "My Voice in Parliament" is funded by the "Public Policy, Advocacy and Civil Society Development Program" of the East-West Management Institute. The project aims to take into consideration the voters' interests and solve the problems of the Imereti Region's population through the bureaus of single-seat MP candidates.

Tbilisi. The "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" (ISFED) will train the local self-government public servants in 69 municipalities of Georgia. Training topics cover election issues such as the duties of self-government authorities in the pre-election period, their relations with the election administration, parties, legislative restrictions of the use of administrative resources, the notion of bribing of voters, etc. During the training the participants will receive the manual and other materials developed by ISFED. The trainings will complete by mid-August. The project is implemented with the financial support of Council of Europe and the Dutch Embassy in Georgia. In addition, the project is supported by the Interagency State Commission for Free and Fair Elections and the Central Election Commission. For details see this link Source: isfed.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. A summary conference of the project "Yes We Can" was held on July 26 in the Akhaltsikhe Civic Engagement Center. The project implemented by the civil society organization "New Generation - New Initiative" was launched on 2 April this year and was completed on 2 August. The project aimed at raising the awareness and level of activities of ethnic minorities residing in the Samtskhe-Javakheti Region. 25 youngsters living in Samtskhe-Javakheti have participated in the project. At the start of the project the youngsters were trained. Afterwards the meetings were held with the representatives of the Central Election Commission and the local authorities. Within the project framework the youngsters had an opportunity to participate in the small grant competitions. The project was implemented with the support of the civil society organizations International Foundation for Electoral Systems and USAID. At the end of the meeting the participants were awarded with certificates and various other gifts.

Imereti. A monthly information meeting of civil society organizations was held in the Kutaisi Office of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association. The meeting has summarized the July processes and focused on the future plans. GYLA has presented the project "Know Who to Elect and for What", which aims to raise the population's awareness on legal acts. The project covers several districts of Imereti, Samegrelo, ZemoSvaneti and ShidaKartli. Young lawyers have presented the second project as well titled "My Voice in the Parliament", addressing also the election environment.

Adjara. On July 25, the Batumi Civic Engagement Center has organized the public discussion on the topic: "Declaration of fundamental rules of behavior during the election campaign of the parties". The discussion participants had the opportunity to discuss in details the rules of behavior and the declaration principles, as well as to express their opinions and remarks.

Samtskhe-Javakheti.On July 24, the coalition "For Freedom of Choice" held the meeting in the Akhaltsikhe Civic Engagement Center with the representatives of local civil society and media organizations and political parties. At the meeting the coalition representatives have informed the audience about the objectives and action plans of "This Affects You Too" campaign, as well as the problems of electoral environment and necessary measures for its improvement. Leaders of the coalition "For Freedom of Choice" have attended the meeting. They have discussed the issues of reflecting the so-called "must carry" and "must offer" principles in the legislation, the positive and negative aspects of amendments to the law, as well as the "Code of Behavior" of political parties during the election period. "It is important to have close contacts between the Tbilisi-based and local organizations and to exchange opinions and work on these problems so that the public life is invigorated not only in Tbilisi but the regions as well", said Irakli Melashvili. Similar meetings have already been held in various regions of Georgia. The coalition "For Freedom of Choice" plans to have an observer mission and deliver trainings in Samtskhe-Javakheti in the future.

Tbilisi. The "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" protests against pressure on the organization's long-term observers and demands for the Inter-Agency Commission to examine this fact. The organization has posted the statement on its web site. For full text Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. "Electorally Motivated Public Spending” – is the title of the new report released by "Transparency International – Georgia”, as part of the project "Transparent and Accountable Political Finance in Georgia”. The report focuses on the electorally motivated spending by the central authorities and it does not contain the analysis of economic expediency of examined issues. "The tendencies of spending public funds are different in the election years – the budget is much more oriented on the implementation of social, short-term employment and other type of populist projects. 2012 is not an exception in this respect either”, states the report. Report – "Electorally Motivated Public Spending” Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On July 19 the presentation of the web-portal www.electionsportal.ge was held in the "Tbilisi Marriott” Hotel. The portal is a joint product of the three civil society organizations – "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)”, "Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association”, and "Transparency International – Georgia”, and its key objective is to disseminate the information on the 2012 parliamentary elections – to register and upload on the site the alleged violations as reported by the civil society organizations and citizens during the pre-election period, on the polling day, and post-elections. The "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy” administers the web-portal, while the project is funded by USAID. The portal is funded by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), as well as by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI). The "Open Society – Georgia” Foundation provided the initial support of the portal.

Tbilisi. Member organizations of a civil campaign "This Affects You Too” respond to the initiative on developing the rules of conduct of political parties and believe that it is crucial to achieve certain agreement among the political parties in order to carry out the fair and peaceful election process. For full text – http://esshengexeba.ge/?menuid=9&id=853&lang=1

Guria. The Civic Development Institute, which implements the project "Citizen Journalists for Free and Fair Elections" in 11 municipalities of Georgia (including Ozurgeti), held meetings on July 12 and 13 with the representatives of Ozurgeti's public. The project is funded by the UN Development Program.

Adjara. On July 14, the "Civic Development Center" met with the representatives of the civil society organizations in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center and informed them about the details of the project "Citizen Journalists for the Free and Fair Elections". The project encompasses 11 cities of Georgia, whose residents - active citizens and professional journalists - will try to obtain and disseminate information on the ongoing developments in Georgia prior to the elections, during the polling day and throughout the subsequent days. The project aims at covering the elections in a coordinated manner. Within the project framework, 110 articles will be written and published, and 3 detailed stories and 2 short films will be prepared. 5 training modules will be developed and trainings will be delivered to 22 professional journalists participating in the project. The project is funded by the UN Democracy Fund.

Tbilisi. The "International Society for Fair elections and Democracy" (ISFED) released the third pre-election monitoring report in Georgia. The report covers the period from June 4 to July 2. ISFED monitors the pre-election environment in all districts of Georgia through the 73 long-term observers. The observers report about the violations revealed during the pre-election period. The monitoring is carried out with the financial support of the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Source:www.isfed.ge The third interim pre-election monitoring report of the 2012 parliamentary elections

Imereti. On July 12, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the CEC have organized the conference in Kutaisi. Apart from the CEC Chairman Zurab Kharatishvili, the chairmen of the Imereti District Election Commissions, editors of media outlets, and the producers and publishers have participated in the conference. The CEC informed the journalists about already implemented and planned events in wake of the 2012 parliamentary elections. In addition, the audience was informed about the CEC's long-term action plan for 2012-2014. The CEC intends to hold similar meetings in the near future with the media representatives of Adjara, Guria, and Samegrelo.

Adjara. On July 9, the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development held the meeting in the Batumi democratic Engagement Center for the young on the topic: "Elections and me". The meeting aimed at informing the youth about the election system and procedures and boosting their motivation to participate in the elections. Meeting participants discussed why are elections so important for our political system, and what are the powers of agencies that we elect. At the end of the meeting the young were provided with the brochure titled "Elections and Me", which is funded by the Council of Europe.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. The discussion meeting was held on July 3 in the office of the civil society organization "Union of Democrat Meskhetians" on the topic: "Elections and me". The meeting was chaired by the Board Chairman of the International Center for Civic Culture KoteKandelaki and the Board member of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, political scientist GhiaNodia.

Tbilisi. The National-Democratic Institute (NDI) held a press-conference on June 29, at which the delegation on a pre-election visit presented its results. Within the scope of the visit delegation members met with the leaders of the ruling team and opposition parties, Chairman of the Central Election Commission, representatives of the executive and legislative authorities, civil society organizations, media representatives, etc. The visit aimed to evaluate the preparation process for the parliamentary elections and examine factors that may have impact on the election process. The report praises the work of the Central Election Commission, introduction of the Must Carry principles, as well as the fact that the large-scale rallies organized by the opposition parties were not marred with incidents. Yet, the delegation is concerned about absence of a dialogue between the political leaders, incidental use of language of hatred, etc. The report is accompanied with recommendations addressing the parliament and the government, political parties, Central Election Commission, media, and the civil society organizations. The group of NDI observers recommends the Parliament of Georgia to consider the possibility of extending the term of the Must Carry principles. The delegation visited Georgia from 25 to 29 June, 2012.