Recommendations of the Interagency Task Force for Free and Fair
Elections
Elections
(27 July 2016 Session)
The Interagency Task Force for Free and Fair Elections, being responsible for facilitating the conduct of 2016 Parliamentary Elections in a transparent and fair environment, hereby issues the following recommendations to:Political parties, electoral subjects, and local self-government bodies participating in the elections:
a) Political parties should give clear instructions to their activists to refrain from attending pre-election campaign meetings of the candidates of rival political parties for the purpose of conducting counter campaigning, making assessments, or delivering speeches, in order to prevent any confrontations – even verbal ones – on political sites, and to give equal opportunity to all candidates to communicate their messages to the electorate without restraint.
b) Political parties and local self-government bodies should issue clear instructions to the effect that their activists/representatives are strictly prohibited from damaging the campaign materials of rival parties and from preventing the placement of such materials.
Upon the identification of such violations, self-government bodies should take prompt and effective measures, as envisaged under electoral legislation.
Political parties and electoral subjects participating in the elections:
In order to provide equal opportunities to all candidates to display printed campaign materials during the pre-election campaign in the territory of Tbilisi, political parties should follow the rules established under Resolution No 16-38 of 2014 of Tbilisi Municipality Sakrebulo (municipal assembly), according to which any electoral subject has the right to display 1 election poster measuring 60X42 cm (A2 format) on the stands allocated for campaign materials.
Local self-government bodies:
In order to regulate issues related to pre-election campaigns, local self-government bodies should introduce relevant legal regulations and monitor their observance to provide equal opportunities to political parties for the distribution of their promotional materials at the local level.