Civil Society Organizations Urge the Parliament against Adopting the Law that Imposes Administrative Liability for Hurting Religious Sentiments

The below signatory civil society organizations disapprove of the legal draft submitted to the parliament that imposes administrative liability for hurting religious sentiments.    The Parliament of Georgia is currently reviewing a bill qualifying public expression of hatred towards sacred objects, religious organizations, clergymen or worshippers by an individual, aimed at hurting religious sentiments, as administrative offence and envisaging subsequent administrative liability. We believe that the bill falls short of Constitutional and international human rights standards, and is essentially harmful to freedom of expression, and the development of pluralistic, liberal and democratic society in the country.  

Evaluation of Presidential Elelction Day , October 27

Starting from the date of its foundation in 1994, GYLA is active in monitoring legislative, executive and local government’s elections and strives to support peaceful and fair conduct of elections with full observance of Georgian legislation. On October 27th, the Presidential Election Day, GYLA observed election process in 8 regions and 36 election districts with more than 400 observers. Moreover, GYLA had observers at the polling stations in the Great Britain and Germany.  

Election Day in Infographics

Election day observation results, as for 21:00

GYLA continues to monitor the course of election day at 36 Election districs in Tbilisi and regions.   At 20:00 polling stations have been closed and vote counting has started.   From 18:00 to 21:00 GYLA observers have detected the  following violations:

Election day observation results, as for 18:00

As for 6 p.m. GYLA continues to  monitor the course of election day at 36 Election districs both, in Tbilisi and regions. First of all, we would like to state, that as already reported at previous press-conferences, elections are taking place in a calm environment with no significant violations observed so far. During the last several hours, following types of violations have been revealed by GYLA’s observers:

Election day observation results, as for 15:00

GYLA continues to  monitor  the course of election day at 36 Election districs in regions and Tbilisi. Polling process is taking place in a calm environment. As for 15:00, procedural violations are identified in several precincts. During the last several hours, GYLA’s observers revealed several types of violations and drafted complaints. According to our observations, violations were mainly conditioned by ignorance of Elections Code.

Election day observation results, as for 9:00

By  9 a.m. polling process was taking place in a calm environment. The majority of election precincts observed by GYLA monitors were fully equipped with necessary voting equipment and ready for opening procedures. At several polling stations, mostly special precincts, GYLA monitors had problems with admission. Problems also occurred during casting of lots and control sheet filling out process. GYLA has detected following procedural violations:

GYLA's Election Observation Mission

Georgian Young Lawyers' Association held presentation of its election observation mission on the October 27, 2013 Presidential Elections. Since the day of its establishment (1994), GYLA has been involved actively in monitoring of elections of the legislative and executive branches, as well as local governments and attempts to facilitate conduct of elections in peaceful and fair environment with observance of Georgian legislation in the election process.    

Assessment of Pre-Election Environment

Short Overview The Parliamentary Elections in 2012 resulted in the first transfer of power through elections in Georgia. This marked a significant progress in development of the country. Overall, the pre-election environment in 2013 merits a positive evaluation as it has been considerably calmer and there have been fewer violations compared with the pre-election environment in 2012. 

GYLA’s Media Legal Defense Center Voices its Position on the Announced Competition for Electing Board of Trustees of Adjara TV and Radio

On October 17, 2013 the High Council of Adjara Autonomous Republic approved the candidates nominated by the faction “Georgian Dream”, “Georgian Dream Adjara” and “Georgian Dream Free Democrats” in the competition for electing members of the Board of Trustees of Adjara TV and radio. Members from the faction “United National Movement” and “National Movement Majoritarians” failed to receive sufficient votes. Accordingly, the competition will continue on the remained two vacant positions.