TV Pirveli is continuing its campaign, intentionally discrediting the Election Administration (EA) of Georgia. On September 28, a segment on “Nodar Meladze’s Saturday” implied that family ties or other relationships among several employees of the EA suggest potential bias in the performance of their duties.

“In the preparatory process of the story, EA of Georgia’s referral had been already made to the TV company’s representatives regarding observance of journalistic ethics and official obtainment of information for their interest from the EA of Georgia pursuant to the applicable law. However, they chose the unethical forms for gaining personal data of the EA’s staff members. Moreover, the EA’s preventive statement about the story was interpreted by the TV company as a threat to end cooperation with ‘TV Pirveli” and an attempt to revoke its accreditation, despite this interpretation being unrelated to reality. This is evidenced by the TV programs on “TV Pirveli”, which featured the attendance of the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia and other representatives of the institution following the release of the statement.

Several inaccuracies are included in the story, including dates of taking positions at the CEC of Georgia by its employees, their official positions as well as influences, reasons for leaving jobs etc. In some cases, the information regarding the activities of individuals associated with Election Administration employees is inaccurate. By manipulating with the information, an author of the story is trying to form the wrong perceptions among the audience and persuade them that the EA’s staff members are biased during their work performance.

It is unfortunate that it is not the first case of unethically obtaining personal data of EA’s employees and pertinent manipulations by the mentioned TV company. We have provided clarifications multiple times and would like to emphasize once again that family ties and personal activities should not be used as criteria for assessing the performance of EA staff members. All objective stakeholders involved in the electoral process should evaluate their performance based on their individual actions and decisions.

During staff recruitment, the EA of Georgia is guided by the applicable norms of Georgia’s legislation, which does not provide the specification of their family ties or any other affiliations. Family members of individuals employed by political unions or state institutions may also have been, or still are, staff members of the EA. However, it is important to note that the institution evaluates its employees based solely on professionalism, not any other criteria. Additionally, the Code on Ethics for Election Administrators sets forth the high standards of impartiality as well as political neutrality for EA’s staff members. These are the very standards that are observed by each employee, including the individuals mentioned in the story. Therefore, blaming these persons for their political bias is absolutely baseless.

Given the aforementioned, we have reason to believe that airing such a story aims to exert pressure, somewhat, on EA employees and undermine trust in the institution by discrediting its staff members.

We urge each electoral stakeholder, including local and international observer organizations, to carefully observe the unobjective and biased campaigns, directly damaging an electoral environment and focusing on reducing trust towards elections.

The Election Administration of Georgia has always been, and will continue to be, a strong advocate for the legal rights of its staff members. Any violation of their rights will be met with an appropriate response, in full compliance with applicable legislation”, - says the CEC.