Analysts criticize results of Georgian CEC's check of placement "bloody banners"

The Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) has unreasonably recognized no violations of the law when placing "bloody banners" with images of oppositionists, Georgian analysts have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 20, the Georgian CEC announced the start of a check after banners with "bloody" images of opposition leaders appeared in Tbilisi.

The CEC has completed the check and concluded that there were no violations. "The written answers of the customer of the banners show that the production/placement of the banners was not financed by any political party or electoral subject," the Georgian CEC said in its message sent on September 28 to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The CEC's conclusion is outside the legal framework, Ucha Nanuashvili, a human rights defender, believes. "This is the second time when the CEC fails to react to a gross violation in the placement of visual propaganda materials," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The CEC's conclusions fail to the consolidation of the rule of law, Nika Chitadze, a political analyst, has noted. "This decreases the democracy level. Relapses of such behaviour can lead to the fact that the election campaign will sooner or later turn into a war of black PR (promotion); and the voters, instead of the election campaign, will have to read compromising materials that political opponents will pour out on each other," he said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 2, 2021 at 09:19 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.