Ex-PM, Tbilisi mayor candidate Gakharia accuses Imedi TV of political bias ahead of municipal race
Per the survey of the International Republican Institute (IRI) Giorgi Gakharia is the second most liked politician in Georgia. Photo: Giorgi Gakharia/Facebook.
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Former Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia, who is running for Tbilisi mayor in the upcoming October 2 self-government elections, has accused local TV channel Imedi of political bias and demands to be aired live.
You (Imedi) do not cover our (For Georgia’s) activities or events and hide the reality from your audience. You invite everyone to be aired on your channel, ask them to talk about us and we are not even allowed to answer,” Gakharia’s Facebook post reads.
Giorgi Gakharia resigned from the post of PM on February 18, 2021 due to a disagreement with the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and soon after in late May launched the For Georgia political party.
The GD accused Gakharia of planning an alleged coup together with the largest opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, noting that his resignation ’was profitable for the UNM.’
Per the survey of the International Republican Institute (IRI) Giorgi Gakharia is the second most liked politician in Georgia after GD’s candidate for Tbilisi mayor, incumbent Kakha Kaladze.
This is not the first time TV channel Imedi has been accused of political bias from the opposition in the run up to the elections.
The opposition European Georgia party on August 26 stated that Imedi ‘grossly violated the legislation’ by refusing to air their political advertisement due to alleged ‘hate speech content.’
- Opposition leader says ruling party persecutes, threatens ex PM Gakharia’s For Georgia party members
Gakharia also said that Imedi first was repressed by the former ruling UNM party, noting that ‘now the GD is forcing the station to feed their audience with one-sided information.’
TV channel Imedi was founded by deceased tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili in the early 2000s and was raided by police in 2007, when he was stripped of ownership of the channel. Imedi was returned to the deceased tycoon’s family after the elections of 2012 when the GD replaced the UNM.
Today the owner of the TV company is asset management firm Hunnewell Partners, the founding partner of which is Irakli Rukhadze, Imedi’s supervisory board chairman.
32 per cent of Georgians trust the Imedi TV channel, IRI’s survey reports.
Deputy Chair of opposition For Georgia party Natia Mezvrishvili says the ruling Georgian Dream party persecutes and threatens opposition politicians, especially in regions. “The Georgian Dream continues the political persecution against the supporters and members of For Georgia party by using various methods of threat and pressure”, Mezvrishvili said at a news briefing today.
The head of the ruling Georgian Dream party (GD) Irakli Kobakhidze says that former PM Giorgi Gakharia, who was nominated for Tbilisi mayor yesterday by his For Georgia political party, ‘has made an attempt with the use of a mediator to receive financial support from us for his refusal to run for Tbilisi mayor.’
Former Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia, who now leads the For Georgia opposition party, has announced today his plans of running for Tbilisi mayor. Gakharia said that three months after the establishment of the For Georgia party it has been the one and the only political party with an increasing rating in Georgia.
The Georgian Public Defender’s Office says that ‘62 employees were subjected to various forms of pressure’ and dozens were dismissed on political grounds ahead of the October 2 municipal elections.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has reported 15 alleged cases of dismissal on political grounds in Georgia in the run up to the October 2 municipal elections. The organisation has also reported several cases of direct or indirect compulsion for the involvement of the educational institutions’ employees in the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party’s campaign. However, ISFED praised the process of interviewing the candidates for membership of the District Election Commission (DEC) which was broadcast live.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has accused former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia and the opposition United National Movement party of planning an alleged coup back in February. The ruling party chair Irakli Kobakhidze told Rustavi 2 media outlet on Friday that then-PM Gakharia had been requesting to postpone the detention of UNM chair Nika Melia for a couple of days after the court ruling for ‘groundless reasons’.
Former Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, who now chairs the For Georgia political union, said at the party’s launch presentation earlier today that ‘we unite for Georgia, but not against anybody’. Stating that his team will be actively involved in political processes, Gakharia said Georgia now needs a political party which can ‘look the truth in the eyes’ and speak up about the challenges the country is facing nowadays, instead of living in illusions.
Local TV channel Imedi has responded to former Georgian PM and Tbilisi mayor candidate Giorgi Gakharia’s accusations that the channel has political bias and has thus refused to air him live in the run up to the October 2 municipal elections. Imedi pointed out an alleged connection between the current opposition United National Movement (UNM) party which governed the country from 2004 to 2012 and Giorgi Gakharia who left the post of PM on February 18, 2021 due to a disagreement with the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and launched the For Georgia political party in late May.
Communications Commission (ComCom), a regulatory body responsible for broadcasting and electronic communication, has satisfied the complaint of the opposition European Georgia party against Imedi TV.
Georgian TV channel Imedi, which has refused to air a political advertisement of the opposition party European Georgia in the run up to the October 2 elections, has been fined with GEL 5,000.
Former prime minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia has proposed trilateral talks between his For Georgia, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and the United National Movement (UNM) opposition to compose city assemblies ‘in a balanced manner.’
The Communications Commission of Georgia, the regulatory body responsible for broadcasting and electronic communication, on Friday announced it was fining six broadcasters for striking deals to set fixed prices for their broadcasting with transit companies, setting a precedent of the violation of competition rules for the domestic media industry.