Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes a blog post: Conflict regions and human rights in pre-election visions of political parties - 2020. “The issue of restoring territorial integrity and resolving the conflict has not been left out of pre-election campaigns of political parties, however, they are unable to offer us: Essentially new, transformational approaches that give birth to gradual and realistic visions of conflict resolution. Parties still find it difficult to offer groundbreaking initiatives for resolving the conflict. They have not properly realized reasons for success or failure of such mechanisms in previous years, constantly changing political contexts and attitudes within the occupied territories. They fail to offer us mechanisms, which they are intending to apply to protect human rights at the occupied territories, neither they have a vision for introduction of respective international mechanisms”, - is stated in the document. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes a document, which contains an analysis of the policy of platforms and visions of political parties in terms of equality. “More precisely, the document contains a detailed review and analysis of discourses, visions and strategies presented by parties in their election platforms in regard to protection of rights and meeting needs of non-dominant religious and ethnic groups, as well as protection of rights of women and LGBTQ people and human rights in conflict regions. In general, it seems that equality policy is not a priority for a large part of political parties, and most of them use superficial as well as mainstream paradigms and visions”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.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. Civil society organizations are responding to the extremely complicated epidemiological situation in the country. The organizations evaluate the existing situation and call on the state to make decisions related to combating COVID-19 as transparently as possible. CSOs consider that it is necessary to inform population about plans the state has in case the situation develops at different scenarios. “We would like to express our heartfelt sorrow in regard to significant increase in the number of infections and deaths caused by COVID-19 in Georgia. It seems the state finds it further more difficult to deal with the crisis along with the increasing number of infected people”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On October 19, 2020, Nino Lomjaria, Public Defender of Georgia, met with Tamar Zhvania, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission, and received information about the tasks of the Commission, as well as the expected obstacles. The readiness of the Central Election Commission to hold fair, equitable and free elections was also the topic of discussion. The Public Defender showed particular interest in the protection of the voting rights of hospitalized, quarantined and self-isolated citizens. The parties also talked about the rights of persons with disabilities and the adjustment of the election environment to them. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) publishes a document: Rights and responsibilities of local self-government bodies and public servants during the pre-election campaign - 2020. Read more… Source: isfed.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. Civil society organizations of Georgia respond to the fact of detention of Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilychova, former members of the Border Delimitation and Demarcation Commission of the Government, by the Office of Prosecutor General on October 7. “We consider that the time of launching the investigation, the pre-election context, signs of selective approach during the investigation process and populist statements, made by leaders of the ruling party violating the presumption of innocence, raise suspicion that the investigation serves political motivations and aim at misleading citizens of Georgia as well as discrediting political opponents”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On Behalf of CDD Deputy Head of the Election Observation mission - Paata Kvavadze participated in a special working group - the initiative of the Central Election Commission (CEC) to discuss the voting of Georgian citizens who are in quarantine, as well as the voting of Covid-19 infected people who are in special facilities. Read more… Source: the organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. On October 31, 2020, elections of the Parliament of Georgia, wheelchair-bound voters will have the opportunity to vote at any adapted polling station, set up on the territory of the relevant majoritarian constituency. To do so, they must apply to the relevant district or precinct election commission no later than October 25. Information on adapted polling stations can be found on the CEC website... Read more… Source: the website of the organization in a 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. PMMG is highly concerned with the incidents as well as the facts of violence taken place in Marneuli and Sadakhlo on 28 and 29 September. On 28 September, in the village of Sadakhlo, Marneuli municipality, the activist of political party “European Georgia” was attacked. According to PMMG, interference in the works of media is unacceptable and consequently it calls upon the respective governmental institutions, to timely, impartially and effectively investigate the underlined incidents and display the respective stance regarding the identification and legal treatment of any individuals involved in the incidents. Read more... Source: The organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. On September 29, there was conducted a roundtable – discussion, organized by the Rondeli Foundation and the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (OSCE HCNM). The topic of the discussion was – “Engagement of ethnic minorities in political processes - 2020 parliamentary elections”. Representatives of minorities talked about main problems that exist in the field of political engagement, while in the second part of the event, representatives of political parties presented their visions of problems, in accordance with their election programs, and discussed ways how to solve them. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

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. 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. Within the framework of a long-term observation mission, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association monitors pre-election processes in Tbilisi, Adjara, Guria, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Imereti, Shida, and Kvemo Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, and Kakheti through its 9 regional observers.  “The Interim Report on the 2020 parliamentary elections contains findings of the monitoring carried out from June 1 through August 31.  GYLA observers from both the ruling party and the opposition detected:  - 5 cases of neglect of the requirement to separate the state and a political party (including the anti-crisis plan to eliminate consequences of COVID-19);  - 5 cases of voter bribery and alleged bribery;  - 6 cases of violent actions, creation of a tense pre-election environment and obstruction of pre-election agitation”.  Read more… Source: gyla.ge

On 11-13 September, 2020 Public Movement Multinational Georgia (PMMG) Implemented an educational program for voters belonging to ethnic minorities. Within the framework of the program, participants from Akhalkalaki and Marneuli Municipalities increased awareness regarding following topics: The essence and implications of democratic elections; Political process, electoral systems and political subjects; Review of Georgian electoral system: the essence and implications of newly adopted constitutional amendments...  Read more... Source: The organization’s web page in the social network