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. Throughout 2018, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) has been maintaining its human rights protection work through litigation, monitoring and advocacy. ''In 2018, over 36’500 persons have benefited from the free legal aid of GYLA. Legal documents were prepared for over 4’700 persons (lawsuits, applications, statements, etc.), 120 cases have completed successfully already. Strategic litigation and advocacy of GYLA have made an important impact towards improvement of legislation and practice in various spheres of human rights. Monitoring efforts of GYLA have allowed revealing those issues, where additional efforts are necessary to resolve existing problems,'' is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The International Anti-Corruption Day is celebrated on 9 December. ''Georgia has made some progress in combating corruption since 2004. Bribery in the delivery of public services, in particular, has been eliminated almost completely. At the same time, more complex forms of corruption remain a problem in Georgia. According to a public opinion poll conducted by Transparency International Georgia earlier this year, 36% of the respondents believe that abuse of power for personal gain is common among public officials in Georgia, while only 16% think that it is not common,'' is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Adjara. ''Transparency International Georgia'' has studied property declarations of 30 officials of Batumi Municipality. 6 cases out of revealed violations are concerning incomplete reflection of property possessed by officials and their family members, while in 2 cases incompatibility of interests has been detected. Read more... Source:www.transparency.ge

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. ''Transparency International Georgia'' proposes recommendations to the Zugdidi Municipality in regard to a draft budget for 2019. ''Like the one for the previous year, a draft budget for 2019, presented by the Zugdidi Municipality for review at the City Assembly, does not completely meet the essence and goals of a program budget'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:www.transparency.ge

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. 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. International Society for Democratic and Fair elections publishes a blogpost: Programs announced by the authorities ahead of the runoff election amount to abuse of administrative resources. ''Promises about the new projects that were not known before the first round of the election leaves an impression that these initiatives are related to the outcome of the first round and their aim is to garner support of voters in the runoff in favor of the presidential candidate endorsed by the ruling party. It seems that the ruling party – the Georgian Dream, which has access to all types of administrative resources is attempting to increase chances of winning for the presidential candidate supported by the Georgian Dream, by using financial and executive administrative resources'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International - Georgia publishes a blog post ''Persons accused in corruption and fraud should be restricted to participate in state procurement''. ''Unlike good international practice, in Georgia, persons convicted of corruption and fraud are not restricted to participate in state procurement. It is the same even in the case when unlawful facts are revealed during participation in state procurement. Current article touches specifically upon this subject'', - the website of the organization reads. Read more... Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia releases a statement: steps towards democratic governance: improvement of political system requires immediate reforms. ''The events of the past several months have clearly demonstrated the systemic problems of governance in Georgia which the civil society organizations had been constantly writing and speaking about. The fact that the government has been ignoring these problems for years has created a situation which threatens the rule of law and the operation of the key institutions in accordance with the Constitution and in the interest of the public. We believe that, in order to overcome the current crisis, the government must, without delay, launch reforms with the aim of transforming the key state institutions in accordance with the fundamental principles of democratic governance – transparency, accountability and integrity'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association observes the period preceding the second round of the presidential elections and points out several important moments. ''During this period there have been revealed both cases of unlawful propaganda, when citizens of a foreign country/persons not having citizenship are actively involved in the campaign, and demonstration of hate speech by supporters of election subjects that still continues to take place'', - is stated in the information released by GYLA." Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) states that the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia does not publicize information regarding current reorganization within the system. ''Implementation of large scale HR and structural changes behind closed doors affects reliability of the reorganization process both inside and outside the system. EMC calls on the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia to ensure transparency of the process and to make information regarding the reorganization process available to interested groups.'' Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes a blog post: Exit poll of ''Psychoproject'' as an unlawful contribution. ''Since the ruling party has not nominated its own presidential candidate, we consider that ordering similar studies, which determine rating of Salome Zurabishvili, an independent candidate, is a contribution to her benefit. Acceptance of a contribution by one party/election subject from another is restricted by Georgian legislation and such an action entails punishment as a fine in the double amount of the contribution'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia releases the final assessment of the 28 October Presidential Elections. ''According to our observations, the 2018 Presidential elections were held in a largely peaceful environment, without serious violent incidents. Nevertheless, the Election Day showed a new problematic trend related to alleged vote buying and mobilization of voters through inappropriate means'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Today ''International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy'' (ISFED) presented a mid-term social media monitoring report in the context of the 2018 presidential elections. In the mid-term report, subjects of study of ISFED were the following four directions: activity of presidential candidates, political parties that nominated them and official pages of campaigns, as well as their compliance with legislation; propaganda conducted by public servants of local self-governments on ''Facebook''; monitoring of official ''Facebook'' pages of local self-governments and authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara; activity of ''Facebook'' pages created basically for discrediting purposes, tactics of their actions and main messages. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia releases the final assessment of the 28 October Presidential Elections. ''According to our observations, the 2018 Presidential elections were held in a largely peaceful environment, without serious violent incidents. Nevertheless, the Election Day showed a new problematic trend related to alleged vote buying and mobilization of voters through inappropriate means. Our observers reported up to 130 insignificant and relatively serious violations. In total, we filed 12 complaints'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. GYLA publishes an interim assessment of the pre-election environment. ''The presidential candidates in the 2018 pre-election period had a possibility to hold pre-election campaign in a competitive environment. They introduced their programs and electoral promises to the voters through face-to-face meetings; however, the campaign was not free from interference, use of hate speech and xenophobic statements. Similar to the 2016-2017 years, the dissemination of the secret tapes was also problematic. Hate speech and personal insults were disseminated through social media as well, which was directed both against various political entities, as well as against the NGOs. Such false information was disseminated through various sponsored pages/accounts. The source of funding of those pages/accounts is still unknown to the public'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Monitoring of 2018 Presidential Elections, conducted by Transparency International Georgia from June 1 to October 20, revealed several negative trends in terms of misuse of administrative resources. ''Several important cases of misuse of enforcement administrative resources have been observed. Recruitment of independent members of District Election Commissions (DECs) and Precinct Election Commisions (PECs) was worth mentioning. Similar to the previous elections, the fairness of this process has been questioned. In some cases, opposition parties have released pre-defined lists of commission members'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge