Article 49.1 of the Election Code of Georgia prohibits persons “holding offices in state or local authorities” from combining campaign activities in support of (or against) electoral subjects with the conduct of their official duties. This applies specifically when those persons use subordinates in campaigning, gathering signatures during official business trips, or conducting “pre-election agitation.” The joint opinion criticises this provision because “[p]ersons ‘holding offices in state or local authorities’ are not listed in Article 49 and there are varying interpretations among stakeholders as to which public officials are legally considered to be persons ‘holding offices in state or local authorities’.” The opinion recommends to clarify the list of officials concerned by this provision and to include governors and mayors, who are entitled to campaign. According to the joint opinion, “[t]he Code should further prohibit such individuals from directly or indirectly using administrative resources and from engaging in electoral campaign activities on behalf of any party/candidate, in order to ensure a level playing field for all contestants.” On the contrary, the joint opinion welcomes the provision “which stipulates that state and local governments, between the day of announcement of the elections and the day of determining the election results, are not allowed to launch any special programs apart from those envisaged in their annual budgets.”