During the last weeks, political ads of a political party Alliance of Patriots of Georgia have been aired on TV Obieqtivi, which is prohibited by the Law on “Broadcasting” until the official announcement of Election Day.  

The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia conducted campaign meetings with its electorate in Western Georgia from June 27 to July 4. TV ads (for instance, this: http://www.myvideo.ge/tv/obiektivi/2018-07-02/21:15:40) have been quite frequently aired on TV Obieqtivi for informing the voters. These TV ads showed a leader of the above-mentioned party with a party flag and symbols on the background. She called on her voters from various towns to come and attend the campaign meetings. The same ads notified us that the party would continue such meetings during entire summer and voters would be informed about the details later on. Although these ads do not have formal attributes of political ad (sign: paid/unpaid political ad and election subject), their content clearly indicates that this is a political ad defined by the Electoral Code of Georgia. Georgian Law on “Broadcasting” and the decision N392/18 (June 15, 2017) of the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) prohibits airing of political ads outside the official pre-election period, therefore, this action is illegal. It is worth noting that last year the GNCC already warned TV Obieqtivi for the similar action.

In addition, if the mentioned political ads had been aired on TV Obieqtivi free of charge, this would be a donation of TV Obieqtivi in favor of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia.  

We call on:

• The Georgian National Communications Commission and the State Audit Office of Georgia – to study this case and take relevant measures;
• TV Obieqtivi and the political party Alliance of Patriots of Georgia – next time not to air similar ads until the beginning of pre-election period for informing the voters.