TI Georgia: Some Political Ads May Be Illegal
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, October 12
Transparency International Georgia (TI), a local NGO, says that the monitoring of free political ads for the October 28 presidential elections aired on Georgian TV channels revealed an alleged violation of Georgian legislation.
The NGOs claims that the content of free ads of four qualified political parties seems to be aimed at promoting Grigol Vashadze, a presidential candidate.
“Such an action can be considered a political donation in favor of Vashadze. However, the Georgian legislation does not allow political parties to donate,” TI Georgia says.
TI Georgia states that prior to the presidential elections, 10 political parties (including five qualified parties) formed a coalition named “The Power is in Unity”.
This coalition presented Vashadze as its presidential candidate.
“However, Georgian Election Code does not allow political parties to create an electoral bloc, which will be able to nominate a common candidate.
“Therefore, only one party the United National Movement could officially nominate Grigol Vashadze. The remaining four qualified parties still decided to nominate their own candidates just formally in order to get free time for ads and state funding for their electoral representatives,” the NGO says.
TI Georgia called on the State Audit Office and the Georgian National Communications Commission to study this case and make “relevant decisions.”
