ISFED’s final report: ‘Ruling party’s financial, administrative resources hindered equal election environment’

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has published its final report on the monitoring of 2021 municipal elections, which reads that the financial and administrative resources of the ruling Georgian Dream Party hindered an equal election environment.

The declarations submitted to the State Audit Office before the municipal election run-offs shows that the revenue of the ruling GD party was two times more than the sum of the revenues of the other four parties with the highest income”, the ISFED says.

The report includes several circumstances that had an impact on the municipal elections:

• Attacks on journalists, aggressive and discrediting statements made by politicians about several media representatives;
• Several cases of voter bribery;
• Violations during the municipal election run-offs that might have had an impact on election results;

The report also claims that the media environment was sharply polarised while covering the elections.

Voters were deprived of the opportunity to receive objective and balanced information via television, while the degree of polarisation was low in online media outlets. Part of the online media adhered to the principles of editorial independence and objective coverage of information”, reads the report.

Read the full report here.