In its first interim report long-term election observation mission from OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said that campaign environment prior to the October 1 parliamentary election “is polarized” and characterized by “frequent public exchanges of accusations and allegations among political adversaries”.
Georgian sources report that OSCE/ODIHR held the observation mission on August 22 with team of 16 experts in Tbilisi. The report, including August 22 till September 5, states that in upcoming elections the ruling United National Movement (UNM) is challenged “among other contestants, by Bidzina Ivanishvili–Georgian Dream (GD), a coalition of six opposition parties promoting widely varying political views.”
According to the report the GD has expressed a lack of trust in the electoral process, while the UNM has expressed commitment to conduct elections in full compliance with standards.
After billionaire Ivanishvili declared about going into politics late last year, party funding and campaign finance rules have been tightened in Georgia.
There is data that the State Audit Office (SAO) has set a five-fold fine in 90 illegal donation cases and a ten-fold fine in 10 cases. In another 66 cases, liens were imposed by court decision on the property of donors who had made illegal donations to an electoral subject.
“A number of OSCE/ODIHR EOM interlocutors accuse the SAO of bias on the grounds of lack of due process and applying a selective approach when fining a particular electoral subject, and for imposing what they consider to be excessive fines,” the report reads.
The report announces in the media that it is characterized by “diversity, although media outlets remain divided along political lines and few outlets succeed in pursuing a more independent editorial policy.”
