Ahead of the October 1 Parliamentary elections, campaigning is not only underway within Georgia. In recent months, opposition leader Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Government’s National Security Council have contracted lobbying firms in the United States – a fact that has not been extensively covered in the Georgian media.The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Transparency International Georgia and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy believe that the role of international lobbyists and the potential impact of their activities on the electoral campaign should be subject of a broader public debate.Civil.ge has calculated that this year, the Georgian government is spending at least USD 1.83 million on Washington DC-based lobbyists – the Podesta Group, Orion Strategies LLC, Prime Policy Group, Gephardt Group Government Affairs, LynxDC, and the consultant Gregory A. Maniatis. They are paid to provide strategic advice, communications support, lobbying and „government relation services“ on topics including free trade, Georgia’s transatlantic and Nato integration and „democracy issues“, and to provide „assistance with pre-electoral issues“.
2012-09-06 17:30 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) responds to websites of local self-governments reporting about activities of the United National Movement, which has recently become an alarming trend. It clearly indicates absence of a boundary between a party and the state at the municipal level, where the principle of non-partisan nature of public service is disregarded. According to the information researched by us, websites of self-governments are actively coverings party activities related to presentation of candidates by the UNM for the upcoming 2012 parliamentary elections as well as agitation meetings where slogans against opponents are featured abundantly. Frequently, in addition to corresponding information websites also feature photos of the ruling party’s majoritarian candidates. In certain cases, the election number 5, election program, and photo materials with candidate’s name and election banners are posted on the website. Further, in individual cases, agitation against main opposition unions is waged by means of websites of self-governments. We identified total of 14 websites, where materials posted are in conflict with the election legislation. It is noteworthy that websites of municipal self-governments are agitating in favor of the ruling party only, without mentioning opposition parties in positive context.
2012-09-06 15:48 See moreOn August 27, 2012, information center of Mtskheta-Mtianeti released information about alleged vote-buying by Zurab Otiashvili. According to media reports as well as the information published on the website of Dusheti Municipality, on August 25, 2012, a public celebration Vazhaoba was facilitated by Dusheti Municipality Sakrebulo, Gamgeoba and the administration of the State Representative – Governor. During the event, one of the UNM’s representatives, Zurab Otiashvili, assisted a local resident with GEL 500. The fact is confirmed by a number of pieces of evidence, specifically: • in audio recording published on icmm.ge, Giorgi Basilashvili confirms that Zurab Otiashvili helped him out;
2012-09-05 11:00 See moreOn Tuesday, September 4, reports of pre-election incidents featured on the elections portal (www.electionsportal.ge) were discussed by non-governmental organizations at a press-conference. Representatives of the following three NGOs – the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and Transparency International – Georgia talked about specific regions of Georgia with greatest number of violations as well as most frequent types of violations. One month prior to elections, the elections portal of NGOs already features reports of 301 incidents, including acts of pressure – total of 198 incidents, as well as 46 cases of vote-buying, 61 cases of use of administrative resources and 16 cases of various other types of violation. Analysis of incidents according to regions illustrates that the greatest number of violations has occurred in Kakheti (62 facts); significant number of violations have occurred in Imereti (49), Shida Kartli (44), Guria (29) and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti (27). The elections portal features total of 43 incidents that have occurred in all ten districts of Tbilisi. According to individual districts, the greatest number of violations have occurred in Gori – 26 incidents; Gurjaani – 15; Dediplistskaro – 13; Lanchkhuti – 11; Kutaisi – 11; Kaspi – 10; Ozurgeti – 10; Lagodekhi – 9; Zugdidi – 9; Sachkhere – 9.
2012-09-05 10:57 See moreThe Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Georgian National Platform released the Statement on the Media Enviornment in Pre-Election Period in Georgia on August 29, 2012. The Statement is supported by more than 60 Non-Governmental organizations.
2012-08-30 14:50 See moreTBILISI – The National Democratic Institute (NDI), Jumpstart Georgia and three organizations that jointly initiated an online elections portal– the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and Transparency International-Georgia (TI-Georgia)– have made previous elections and voter list data available on http://data.electionportal.ge. The website shows results of each election conducted in Georgia since 2008 by a variety of indicators such as turnout, overall results, individual party results and more. The website presents the data through maps which enable analysis over different geographical levels which include regions, districts and precincts. This analysis can have a variety of applications such as helping to identify areas of low turnout in order to target voter mobilization efforts where they might be most effective.
2012-08-27 15:57 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) will monitor the manifestation to be held by the coalition Georgian Dream on August 27, 2012 in Ambrolauri. The monitoring will be carried out within the frames of a long-term pre-election monitoring, which entails monitoring of public meetings organized by political parties as well as realization of freedom of assembly and manifestation. Monitors will observe all developments in Ambrolauri and throughout the regions related to organization of the August 27, 2012 assembly and mobilization and relocation of participants.
2012-08-27 07:14 See moreOn August 10, 2012, an initiative group of voters submitted necessary documentation in Kharagauli District Election Commission (DEC) for registration of an independent majoritarian candidate - Giorgi Glunchadze, including list of voters supporting the candidate. Having invalidated some of the signatures on the list, the DEC gave a two-day term to the initiative group to fill the void. The initiative group presented signatures requested by the DEC. The same day, court delivered a decision based on the motion filed by Zestaponi District Office of the Prosecutor to seize lists of voters supporting Giorgi Glunchadze and related documents from the DEC. On August 16, 2012, statement of Kharagauli DEC N48 was published on the website of the Central Election Commission (CEC), saying that registration of an independent candidate Giorgi Glunchadze had been suspended for an indefinite period of time, due to the fact that originals of documents necessary for registration of the candidate had been seized from the Commission.
2012-08-23 15:14 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) will monitor the manifestation to be held by the coalition Georgian Dream on August 19, 2012 in Rustavi. The monitoring will be carried out within the frames of a long-term pre-election monitoring, which entails monitoring of public meetings organized by political parties as well as realization of freedom of assembly and manifestation.
2012-08-17 10:24 See moreGYLA studied decisions of Tbilisi City Court dated August 10 and August 11, 2012, warranting fining and impounding of movable and immovable property as well as intangible assets of leaders of the political coalition Georgian Dream - Bidzina Ivanishvili and Kakha Kaladze. Pursuant to the court's decision, the fines imposed on Kakha Kaladze and Bidzina Ivanishvili amounted to GEL 16 944 960 and GEL 20 243 827,5 respectively. In the process of analyzing the cases, a particular attention must be paid to evaluation of court's decisions. In view of the fact that acts of the State Audit Service lack validity, it is even more important for the court to act as a guarantor of balance and protection of rights and ensure fair and impartial examination of the case. But instead, decisions of court are characterized by loyalty to public agencies and fail to ensure a fair trial. It has once again been reaffirmed by final decisions delivered against Kaladze and Ivanishvili. Regrettably, such precedents have an adverse impact on reputation of judicial authority in general. GYLA has highlighted on numerous occasions multiple violations during court proceedings initiated under the law of Georgia on Political Union of Citizens, including unreasonable time for review of cases by court - 48 hours; making it impossible for the defense to prepare properly; a short period of time for appealing, which rules out any possibility to familiarize with minutes of the trial or the decision to be appealed. In addition to the noted problems, another acute issue in decisions delivered against Kaladze and Ivanishvili is unsubstantiated judicial decisions.
2012-08-17 08:42 See more