The Court for Fair Elections

CEC Final Ruling Abolished

The Tbilisi District Court eliminated the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) final ruling, on “Participation of the State and Private Mass Media in the Election Process and the Rule of their Usage”.

On August 25, 2003 the CEC, before the termination of its authority, issued a ruling threatening the freedom of expression and information. The ruling prohibited the private and state media companies from airing politicians delivering pre-election campaign messages, except the set time, until 50 days before the parliamentary election on November 2, 2003.

“Information regarding the parties or candidates can be broadcasted only if such information is not related to the elections,” the ruling read. At the same time, the CEC prohibited entertainment programs from airing segments with politicians.

In the case of disobedience, the CEC reserved the right to warn and later cancel a TV station’s accreditation.

The CEC ruling has become one of the most important issues in the pre-election run-up. Clearly it directly impeded the right of voters to receive accurate and sufficient information, the right of electoral candidates to communicate their platform, and right of the media to seek and deliver information.

Moreover, legal experts said the CEC ruling violated the 19th and 24th articles of the Constitution of Georgia, which guarantee the freedom to receive and disseminate information and to “freely express one’s opinion orally, in written or in any other form”. 

Civil activists also connected the CEC final ruling with recent attacks on the freedom of speech and expression by the government.

On August 28, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), representing several private and state TV companies and a few independent newspapers, filed a lawsuit against the CEC and appealed to the Tbilisi District Court with an insured letter. Despite the fact that Article 2 of the CEC ruling reads that one has a right to appeal to the Tbilisi District Court within a three day period after the ruling has entered into force,  the CEC did not publish this ruling (adopted on August 25) until August 27, which of course omitted the possibility of anyone suing the CEC.

“The CEC ruling is a violation of the law because it entered into force on August 25, when the amendments to the new election code (giving the CEC the right to adopt such a ruling) were not in force,”-Malkhaz Gugunishvili of GYLA said at the court hearing on September 3.

“Besides, it [the CEC ruling] violates the Constitution of Georgia and is in conflict with the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights,” he added.

Despite the fact that the respondent had attempted to stop the hearing several times, the court reached a decision to abolish the CEC ruling, leaving the right to appeal to the Supreme Court within a period of one month. The CEC also has to pay 300 lari (approximately USD141) of legal expenses.

“This is the decision that we expected” Nugzar Kupreishvili of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy told Advocacy.Ge. “Otherwise the government would have had a chance to rig the ballot. Now, at least legally, we are guaranteed that there will be equal opportunities for everyone,” he added.  

Representatives of GYLA believe that the incoming members of the CEC (to be formed no later than September 4) will not appeal to the Supreme Court on this decision.