General regulations for election campaigning media coverage
1. A broadcast licence holder, an authorised over-the-air broadcaster, and the Public Broadcaster and Ajara TV and Radio of the Public Broadcaster shall, not later than 5 calendar days from the 60th day before polling, for the purpose of publishing on the website of the CEC and the GNCC, submit information on airtime tariffs for the paid pre-election advertising campaign. Such tariffs shall be effective from the 50th day before the polling. The relevant tariff may be changed once, not later than the 35th calendar day before the polling, except in the cases provided for by this Law. In the case of the change of the tariff, the new tariff shall be sent to the GNCC for publication on the website. Such tariff shall be effective on the 30th calendar day before polling. The relevant person mentioned in this paragraph is obliged to start placing advertisements from the 50th day before polling, complying with the following conditions:
a) if airtime is allotted for pre-election campaigning and political advertising, publicly announce and weekly submit to the GNCC the following information: from and until what date and at what intervals the airtime is allotted, its duration and schedule of the allotted airtime during one day, and service provided;
b) paid airtime allotted by any TV or radio broadcaster during one day may not exceed 15% of its total daily broadcasting time and none of electoral subjects shall be granted more than one-third of this time. The paid airtime fee shall be equal for all electoral subjects;
c) when broadcasting a political/pre-election advertisement, the screen corner shall display the inscription ‘paid political advertising’ or ‘free political advertising’. Such advertisements shall have to be accompanied by the sign language translation which shall be arranged for by the electoral subject presenting the advertisement;
d) during the period referred to herein, political advertising may not be broadcast at any other time, except the time interval allotted for these purposes.
11. If the date of the elections coincides with the state of emergency or martial law declared in the whole territory of the country or extraordinary elections are scheduled, the holder of the broadcasting licence, the authorised broadcaster, the public broadcaster, and Ajara TV and Radio of the Public Broadcaster is obliged, for the purpose of publishing on the website of the CEC and the GNCC, not later than 40 days before the polling, submit the airtime tariffs for the placement of the paid pre-election advertisement. Such tariffs shall be effective on the 35th calendar day before polling. The relevant person mentioned in paragraph 1 of this article is obliged to start placing advertisements from the 35th day before polling, complying with the conditions provided for by subparagraphs (a-c) of the same paragraph.
2. From the announcement of elections until the summarisation of election results, newspapers funded by the central or local budget shall meet the following conditions:
a) if a newspaper allocates space for election campaigning and political advertising, it shall weekly publish the following information in the same newspaper: from what date, at what intervals and until when the newspaper space is allocated, the size of the space allocated in one newspaper, and in the case of free newspaper space, the share of free space out of the total space allocated, the space fee, and service provided;
b) no electoral subject shall be granted more than one-third of the newspaper space in one newspaper publication or over a period of one week;
c) the space fee shall be equal for all electoral subjects;
d) when publishing a campaign letter and a political advertisement, an inscription ‘paid political advertising’ or ‘free political advertising’ shall be made above the heading and in the corner of the advertisement;
e) during the period referred to in this paragraph, a political advertisement shall not be published in violation of the requirements provided for by this paragraph.
3. All newspapers, except for the ones referred to in paragraph 2 of this article, shall have the right to allot pre-election advertising time to any electoral subject under any conditions.
4. If any electoral subject fails to use its airtime or newspaper space, a broadcast licence holder, an authorised over-the-air broadcaster, the Public Broadcaster, and Ajara TV and Radio of the Public Broadcaster, and a newspaper shall have the right to distribute this time or space equally among other electoral subjects.
5. It is prohibited to publish public opinion poll results with regard to the elections, except for the possible number of voters in elections and the number of voters participating in elections on polling day, within 48 hours before polling day and until 20:00 of that day. From the day of calling elections until the publication of final results of elections by the CEC and during one month thereafter, the following shall be indicated when publishing public opinion poll results with regard to elections: the person ordering the poll (name according to public or electoral registration and legal address if a legal entity or a state body has ordered the public opinion poll; and first name, last name, and address according to a Georgian citizen’s identity card if an individual has ordered the public opinion poll), whether the poll is paid or free of charge, the organisation conducting the public opinion poll (name according to public or electoral registration and legal address), date of the poll, methods used, exact formulation of the questions put in the poll, possible margin of errors.
Organic Law of Georgia No 834 of 12 July 2013 – website, 25.7.2013
Organic Law of Georgia No 2093 of 7 March 2014 – website, 14.3.2014
Organic Law of Georgia No 3695 of 12 June 2015 – website, 15.6.2015
Organic Law of Georgia No 6723 of 2 July 2020 – website, 3.7.2020
