Georgian vote monitoring for 2025 will be absent due to restrictive legal conditions and insufficient financing facing the media oversight body.
In a significant development for media freedom in Georgia, the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics has announced that it will not monitor election coverage ahead of the 2025 municipal vote. This marks the first time in 13 years that an independent journalists' association will not be present during elections in the region.
Founded in 2009, the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics currently has 360 Georgian journalists as signatories of its principles. The organization has conducted election monitoring during key elections, including the 2012 parliamentary elections and most recently the 2024 parliamentary elections.
The decision to withdraw from election monitoring is due to the loss of funding as a result of restrictive laws adopted by the Georgian Dream government. The charter lost access to funding from Western donors due to the ruling party's policies.
The ruling party has been passing several new restrictive pieces of legislation targeting the media, civil society, and other critics. Critics argue that these laws mirror the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, but unlike the US version, have been used to target civil society and media.
One such amendment is the law on grants, which requires organizations to obtain government permission before receiving grants from outside of Georgia and mandates donor organizations to submit grant copies to the Georgian government.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will also not monitor the election reporting in Georgia before the 2025 local elections, unlike in the past 13 years. The Georgian election watchdog the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has also announced that there will be no observation mission for this year's elections, citing concerns about fairness and legislative changes that restricted the rights of observers and increased government pressure on domestic observer organizations.
The Georgian Dream party has defended these changes, claiming they are necessary to combat the 'influence of external powers'. However, critics insist they aim to undermine the media and civil society in an already fragile democracy. The enforcement of these laws, including decisions about foreign influence and unauthorized grants, has been entrusted to the Anti-Corruption Bureau under the Prime Minister's Office.
Despite this setback, the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics will continue to perform basic functions on a voluntary basis, including reviewing citizens' complaints about violations of media standards. The charter's withdrawal from election monitoring is a concerning development for media freedom and democratic processes in Georgia.
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