Working hours: Mon-Fri (10:00 - 18:00)

Programs on GDS TV

From September 1, GDS TV started a series of programs in which the former Prime Minister of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, meets local journalists in all the ten regions of the country in a live broadcast. The program will be aired every Monday and Thursday before the elections.   

2016-09-12 15:01 See more

Cases of interference with election campaign and violence

The reporting period has also seen several cases of interference with the election campaign and violence. GYLA has filed applications regarding these acts in the relevant agencies and, also, called upon political parties and their supporters to refrain from violent acts and to conduct the election campaign quietly and without violence, so that the events will not endanger free, competitive and fair electoral environment.      

2016-09-08 17:54 See more

Cases of dismissal of employees allegedly on political grounds

GYLA has also been observing cases of dismissal from jobs on allegedly political grounds and, if necessary, representing the interests of dismissed persons in court. In the reporting period, we have documented three cases of job dismissals on allegedly political grounds. In particular: 

2016-09-08 17:50 See more

Cases of alleged vote buying in the regions

On July 18, 2016, various media outlets reported that Levan Varshalomidze, a representative of citizen’s political association United National Movement, had met with constituents in the Benze neighborhood of Batumi as part of the election campaign. During the meeting, Levan Varshalomidze made a written agreement with several constituents promising to build a new apartment building.

2016-09-08 17:48 See more

Cases of alleged vote buying in Tbilisi

According to an article published by the InterPressNews news agency on June 9 this year, on the initiative of Tevdore Kobakhidze, Chairperson of the Legal Issues Commission of the Tbilisi City Council, “teachers of the schools of the Vake District will be given free diagnostic tests.” To study this fact in detail, we applied to the Tbilisi City Council, requesting information about the planned initiative and its budget.           

2016-09-08 17:48 See more

The Tkibuli newspaper violates the rules of coverage of election campaigns

The July issue of the Tkibuli local socio-political newspaper, which is published by the Tkibuli Municipality, published a campaigning letter and article by Elguja Gotsiridze, a majoritarian candidate of political association Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia. Neither the letter nor the article were accompanied by the inscription “free political advertising” or “paid political advertising”. 

2016-09-08 17:46 See more

Violation of election campaigning rules

On June 16, 2016, the United National Movement was planning to present its majoritarian candidates in the city of Rustavi.

2016-09-08 17:45 See more

Unlawful participation in campaigning and violation of campaigning rules

There are no separate regulations on the use of the Web space and social networks for campaigning purposes and unlawful campaigning. Together with development of technologies, the nature of electoral violations has also been transformed and, in some cases, they also occur in the Web space, cases in point being campaigning using social networks, including Facebook, and the use  of video transmissions from abroad to involve foreign nationals in election campaigning. 

2016-09-08 17:43 See more

The Prime Minister’s initiative “Life goes on” blurs the necessary line between party and state resources

Although the Georgian electoral legislation does not prohibit, save for exceptions, initiation and implementation of social programs in the pre-election period, such initiatives still contain risks of the use of administrative resources. Such initiatives are mainly targeted at broad masses of the population and initiating them before elections is aimed at increasing the level of voters’ satisfaction. 

2016-09-08 17:32 See more

A majoritarian candidate presumably fails to meet statutory criteria for candidates

On August 27, 2016, the Chairperson of the Kobuleti District Election Commission No. 81 issued Ordinance No. 07/2016 by which Leonid Chernovetskyi, who had been nominated in the Majoritarian Election District No. 71 by members of an initiative group for the parliamentary elections of October 8, 2016, was registered as a majoritarian candidate. 

2016-09-08 17:00 See more