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.
The ongoing investigation of an incident occurred in Gonio on 26 August 2016 between the Chairperson of the Tbilisi City Court and Tamar Khachapuridze, the head of one of the non-governmental organisations - “Hope for the Future” - calls into question that the investigation of the incident involving a high official may be conducted in an impartial and objective manner. The accuracy of the qualification of the action committed, the proportionality of expected punishment, the independence and objectiveness of judicial control over the investigation process are in question.
We, the signatory non-governmental organizations express our concern regarding a August 23, 2016 racisit statement that Mr. Zaza Mamaladze, the Saburtalo District majoritarian candidate of the “Patriot Alliance” has made in the air of Media-Union “Obieqtivi”. Namely, he said:
The cycle of TV programmes started on the GDS TV in September, in which the former Prime Minister of Georgia and Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the political coalition Georgian Dream, meet live the local journalists from all ten regions. The TV programme will be broadcasted on every Monday and Thursday before the elections.
In the pre-election period, a number of municipalities amended their budgets by which the local authorities distributed a considerable part of the budget funds of 2016, unlike those of non-election year 2015, to programs whose implementation would increase the level of satisfaction of the population and, ultimately, raise the number of their supporters in the elections. The implementation of these programs before elections may not directly contradict concrete norms of the Election Code, though, in its essence, it constitutes the use of budget funds for electoral purposes and creates unequal conditions for political parties.
According to established practice, the pre-election period in Georgia traditionally lasts two months, though the duration of the pre-election period of the 2016 parliamentary elections was determined as four months. This has given rise to both positive and negative aspects. For example, in a number of cases, budget amendments were made and new programs/increases of funding for existing programs were implemented after the official start of the campaign, which the Election Code prohibits from the 60th day before election day.
