The National Democratic Institute (NDI) has released its second pre-election bulletin today with recommendations aimed to improve the information environment and ensure inclusion of marginalized groups ahead of Georgia’s parliamentary elections of October 31.
Georgia’s media environment is among the freest and most diverse in the region, but it is highly polarised, potentially impacting citizens’ ability to make informed electoral choices”, NDI said.
Stressing the importance for citizens ‘to receive regular and reliable information about elections and political developments’ it said ‘recent reports of interference with journalists’ work are troubling’.
NDI referred to incidents including:
Georgian authorities claim the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia will be held with high standards of safety regulations at polling stations amid the coroavirus pandemic. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Speaking of election debates, NDI noted that securing ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party participation has been difficult for many national and regional broadcasters.
Although GD participated in the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) debate on October 15, the majority of both national and regional outlets, particularly those viewed as opposition-leaning or critical of the government, report that the ruling party has avoided or ignored their programmes”, NDI reported.
Emphasising the role of social media as ‘an increasingly important source of information’ in Georgia, NDI said this means that ‘exposure to online manipulation is growing’.
While Facebook, the most popular platform in the country, has recently taken down large domestic disinformation networks, other domestic and foreign influence operations remain active”, the report reads.
It meanwhile adds that disinformation regarding COVID-19 ‘remains prevalent’, while the recently resumed fighting in nearby Nagorno-Karabakh ‘has sparked new disinformation narratives’.
In its pre-election bulletin NDI notes as well that ‘despite legal protections, women, ethnic and religious minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTI communities still struggle for political representation’.
A total of 48 political parties and 2 election blocs are competing for 30 majoritarian and 120 proportional seats in 150-member parliament. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
This is NDI’s second bulletin based on analysis of eight international election experts. The first bulletin covering the activities of the election administration and assessing campaign environment was released on October 9.
NDI will monitor the overall election process until its conclusion and will issue a comprehensive assessment shortly after the elections.