Home > 2 Organising the elections > GEORGIA - Joint Opinion on the Election Code
 
 
 
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Paragraph 55
 

 It is unusual that the Election Code does not include any general campaigning curfew or any prohibition against election-day campaigning in and around polling stations. The only time ban on campaign activities is in Article 73 par.3 which prohibits the transmission of free and/or paid electoral advertisements through television within 24 hours prior to the election date. Undue influence in the last 24 hours before an election can take place in various contexts, such as agitation at the actual polling place or its vicinity and door-to-door campaigning on the day of voting. Generally, a ban on campaigning near to the election allows voters to more easily reflect on the political choice to be made. In the 2008 parliamentary elections, campaigning activities and materials were, in fact, observed on election day both inside and in the vicinity of polling stations. It is thus recommended that the Election Code include a general prohibition against any type of campaign activity during the last 24 hours prior to elections. Interestingly, the Administrative Offences Code (Article 1745), sets out a fine for campaigning on election day, without, however, a corresponding substantive provision in the Election Code that prohibits campaigning on election day. At a minimum, campaigning and campaign materials in and around polling stations on election day should be banned.