Tbilisi. Based on the appeal of the Public Defender of Georgia, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) will monitor the ongoing process of selection of judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia. "Due to high importance of the process of selection of judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia, the Public Defender appealed to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on May 27 of the current year and requested to monitor the process. It should be taken into consideration that again on the basis of a request of the Public Defender, the same organization, on April 17 of the current year, published a legal opinion and recommendations related to a bill initiated in the Parliament in regard to the issue of selection of judges of the Supreme Court. Monitoring of the process of selection of judges will be a logical continuation of this process. By the letter of May 30 of the current year, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has confirmed its readiness to observe the selection process and its compliance with both national legislation and international standards as well as good practices”, - is stated in the information released by the Office of the Public Defender. Read more… Source: The website of the Office of the Public Defender

Tbilisi. ''Fair Elections'' publishes a blog post written by a researcher Ana Andguladze in Brussels in regard to the European Parliament election, to be conducted on May 23-26, and its importance for Georgia. ''New composition of the European Parliament is interesting also for Georgia. The European Parliament of 2014 convocation often stated its opinion related to the support of the European integration course and territorial integrity of Georgia, and, at the same time, continuously monitored political processes ongoing in Georgia'', - is stated in the blog post. Read more… Source:isfed.ge

Tbilisi. According to the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), the May 19, 2019 mid-term and extraordinary election day has passed without substantial violations, however there has been revealed a negative trend that is connected with both control of expression of will of voter and tense environment. ''Unfortunately, in some cases it turned into physical confrontation and violence'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. On 19th May snap elections are going to be held in several electoral districts. During the last few weeks political activities in Zugdidi electoral district reached the highest threshold of tension. ''We consider that all the parties involved in electoral processes must abstain from escalating the situation in all the possible ways. It is really important to give all the candidates the opportunity to carry out their electoral campaign in a peaceful environment and the voters as well mustn’t be precluded from the free expression of their will'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The May 19, 2019 mid-term elections will be monitored by up to 240 short-term observers and 10 mobile groups of ''International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy'' (ISFED). According to the information released by the organization, observers of ISFED will be present at all polling stations in Zugdidi, Marneuli and Mtatsminda districts and monitor the elections based on the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) methodology. Read more... Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. On the background of the upcoming midterm elections, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) responds to the information spread by media in regard to the violent incident and alleged electoral crimes, which took place on May 14 in Zugdidi. ''Fair Elections'' considers that an action involving signs of any crime, revealed during the election campaign process, requires immediate, effective and timely response by law enforcement agencies'', - is noted in the statement released by ISFED. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia responds to the alleged criminal offenses committed during the campaign of the Zugdidi mayor snap elections in recent days, which could hinder the holding of elections in a free and fair environment and violate human rights. ''These actions clearly contain signs of criminal offense and it should not be difficult to identify the attackers'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On March 21, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) presented the final report of monitoring the 2018 presidential election. The report summarizes key findings and trends identified during the pre-election, Election Day and post-election period, as well as evaluation of the work of the election administration, the Inter-Agency Commission, the State Audit Office and the National Communications Commission during the presidential election. In addition to the key findings and evaluations the report also provides 42 recommendations for improvement of the election legislation and the electoral environment. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. A conference on Hate Speech in Election Campaign was held on 12 March 2019 involving representatives of state institutions, civil society organisations, and the international community. The conference was opened by the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia Cristian Urse and the Chairperson of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association Sulkhan Saladze. The event aimed at discussing questions related to negative campaigning and hate speech during elections, with particular emphasis on 2018 Presidential elections. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association continues studying the issue of conducting an inspection at the Zugdidi public school # 6 in 2018 and concludes that the mechanism of inspection at schools was supposedly used for influencing on an election environment. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) is for the first time carrying out social media monitoring during the 2018 presidential election. ''Increasing role of social media and its impact within the context of elections was clearly illustrated by recent electoral processes in different countries across the globe. ISFED detected the same trend in Georgia and following the 2017 local self-government elections, made determined efforts to conduct methodological monitoring of social media. To monitor social media, a special methodology was designed and special software was developed'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.isfed.ge

Tbilisi. ''International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy'' (ISFED) considers that investigation of facts aired in a ''Saturday Courier'' program of TV Company ''Rustavi 2'' on December 15 should be launched. ''The video footage contains Dmanisi, Senaki, Marneuli and Bolnisi precincts related video material, which reveals facts of alleged falsification of signatures of voters in voters lists, dropping ballot papers and violation of secret voting, committed by members of precinct election commission'', - is noted in the statement released by ISFED. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. GYLA evaluates the Election Day of the Second Round of 2018 Presidential Elections held on November 28/2018, which GYLA observed with up to 300 observers in Tbilisi and 28 districts of 9 regions of Georgia. ''According to GYLA findings, the Election Day was mostly peaceful, however, marked with significant violations and other important tendencies: facts of alleged falsification, vote bribery and threatening; separate cases of violation of the key principle of the elections – vote secrecy and facts of control over voters’ will. At separate precincts, GYLA observers were limited in the possibility to perform observer duties, as there were facts of aggression and threat of physical assault against GYLA observers – during both the voting process, as well as during the vote count process,'' is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. ISFED publishes the final PVT results of the 2018 Presidential Election. ISFED observation of the second round of Presidential Elections was based on the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology, which enables us to timely detect violations, systematically evaluate the entire Election Day process and verify the accuracy of the official election results. Read more… Source: www.isfed.ge

Tbilisi. According to organization’s observation, the second round of the 2018 Presidential elections was held in a largely peaceful environment, without serious violent incidents. Nevertheless, the Election Day showed new problematic trends related to alleged vote buying, violation of the secrecy of vote and registration of voters through unacceptable means. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes a blogpost: Second Interim Report on Monitoring Campaign Finances and Administrative Resources. ''Compared to the pre-election period leading up to the first round of the presidential elections, the scale of the use of administrative resources for electoral purposes have increased considerably in the run up to the second round, which could significantly affect the election results. The donations received by Salome Zurabishvili, who enjoys the support of the ruling party, are still five times the size of the donations received by the United National Movement candidate, Grigol Vashadze. The increase in the number of instances of alleged bribery of voters has become particularly striking'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Non-Governmental Organizations, signatory to this statement, express their utmost concern regarding the contents of the statement made by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia on 21 November 2018. The statement contains an indirect message about imposing criminal responsibility on our colleagues and comes across as a warning to us, i.e., various organizations working in the field of human rights as well as every individual cooperating with us under the condition of confidentiality and providing us with significant information on human rights violations. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) hosted Ross Wilson, CDA Ambassador of the United States of America. The meeting was attended by representatives of both ISFED and other civil society organizations. Participants talked about observation mission, polarized election environment and its challenges, aggressive pre-election rhetoric, discrediting through social media, oppressing/threatening voters, possible facts of vote buying, attack on civil sector and other issues. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. On November 21, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) presented an interim report of pre-election monitoring of the second round of the 2018 elections of President of Georgia. The document contains a review of the period from October 29 through November 19. "In comparison to the first round, the pre-election environment of the second round is characterized by even sharper polarization and negative campaign. Aggressive rhetoric is increased during the period between the first and second rounds. Right upon completion of the first round, representatives of the ruling party made disturbing statements and predictions regarding threats of civil war and possible destabilization in case an opposition candidate wins. Later, an independent candidate, supported by the ruling party, declared about reception of life threatening messages. The media is sharply polarized between the first and second rounds. At the beginning of the second round, the TV Company "Imedi” made a statement about transitioning to "emergency mode” against "United National Movement” and Grigol Vashadze, while the TV Company "Rustavi 2” sharply expresses its support to the opposition candidate”, - the report reads. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. "No to Phobia!” responds to a statement of Mikheil Saakashvili, made while having an interview with "Rustavi 2”, in which he called Moshe Klughaft, an alleged PR specialist of "Georgian Dream”, as "some Jewish swindler Moshe”. "We, "No to Phobia!” civil platform member organizations, express extreme concern in regard to the anti-Semitist statement, made by Mikheil Saakashvili, a leader of "United National Movement”, on November 18, 2018. We once again call on him and other politicians to refrain from using hate speech, calling specific groups by insulting and derogatory terms and spreading stereotypes”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. According to observation of International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), within the period between the I and II rounds of the 2018 presidential elections, facts of oppression on the electorate have become frequent and new, so far unprecedented forms of influencing on the will of voters have been detected. As ISFED states, besides facts of oppression and coercion, supporters of the ruling party and Salome Zurabishvili, an independent candidate, try various measures to prevent supporters of Grigol Vashadze from coming to the elections. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Part of civil society organizations consider that by the decision of CEC, - to conduct the second round of elections on a working day, interests of citizens of Georgia are ignored. ''In order to reduce harm caused by the problem created by themselves, CEC has extended time for voting at polling stations set abroad to 24 o'clock. However, it seems unlikely that this might be a benefit for those voters who work or study and have to go to another city to vote''. Read more... Source: gyla.ge