During the last week, political ads of a political party Alliance of Patriots of Georgia have been airing on TV Obieqtivi. Until the official announcement of Election Day broadcasters are prohibited to air political ads. 

TV ads (for instance, this: http://www.myvideo.ge/tv/obiektivi/2020-08-18/09:51:25 [1]) have been quite frequently aired on TV Obieqtivi since 18 August. These TV ads show a leader of the above-mentioned party with a party flag and symbols on the background. She talks about various economic projects and promises the electorate to implement these projects if they win the elections. 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 [2] 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 in 2017 and 2018 the GNCC already warned TV Obieqtivi for similar actions.

In addition, if political ads are 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 GNCC 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 – stop airing political ads until the official beginning of the pre-election period.