Mtavari, TV-Pirveli and Formula refused to air the political advertisement of Georgian Dream, which is a violation of law. Such a statement made today Givi Mikanadze, member of the Georgian Dream.

“A number of facts related to interference in the election campaign were recorded.

In particular, according to the information spread on September 18, as a result of the media monitoring conducted by the National Communications Commission [ComCom], it was established that BMG posted free political advertisements of political subjects on the air in violation of the law. According to the “Election Code of Georgia”, a free political advertisement must be placed by a Public Broadcaster, a community broadcaster or a common national broadcast broadcaster. Due to the fact that “BMG” does not represent any of the above, it is forbidden to allocate time for free political advertising of electoral subjects. Accordingly, the ComCom recognized the broadcaster as a violator and drew up a corresponding protocol of administrative violations.

On October 5, TV companies Mtavari, TV-Pirveli and Formula issued a joint statement in which they refused to air the political advertisement of Georgian Dream, which is a violation of the law. In addition, instead of non-governmental organizations condemning this illegal action, the leaders of the election monitoring organizations European Orbit and Transparency International Georgia, as well as the organization Media Advocacy Coalition approved this position of the television stations and publicly expressed their full support. It is important that this decision of the television stations was based on the aforementioned statement of the EU Ambassador in Georgia.

Several facts of the attempt to discredit the election process and the election administration were revealed”, - said Givi Mikaadze.