Temporary procedures regulating election/referendum campaign expense before the acquisition of full power by the Parliament elected as a result of the 2020 Parliamentary Elections of Georgia

1. An election/referendum campaign shall be funded from:

a) the funds of a political party;

b) the funds of the number one electoral bloc – if political associations are united in a single electoral subject;

c) the election funds opened by an initiative group of voters to fund the campaign of an independent candidate.

2. A candidate nominated by an electoral subject shall use the fund of the electoral subject nominating the candidate.

3. The basis for opening a bank account in a licensed commercial bank of Georgia for electioneering of an initiative group of voters shall be an ordinance on the registration of this electoral subject of a Chairperson of a relevant election commission.

4. An electoral subject shall be obliged to submit to the State Audit Office of Georgia the information about the bank account, from which the necessary costs shall be funded for an election campaign. The information submitted on the mentioned fund should also include the contact details of the persons responsible for managing the election campaign fund.

5. Election/referendum campaign funds shall be the money deposited into the relevant bank account, as well as all goods and services received free of charge (calculated at market prices), except for the cost of free advertising time received in accordance with the law.

6. During elections, an electoral subject may not use other financial means than the respective funds.

7. The total amount of expenses incurred by the electoral subject during the year shall not exceed 0.1% of the gross domestic product of Georgia of the previous year. This amount includes the expenses incurred by the electoral subject and another person in its favour, which are determined by the State Audit Office and about which the relevant electoral subject is notified.

8. The upper limit of the total annual election expenses of an independent majoritarian candidate shall be determined as follows: the upper limit of the election campaign allowances for a political party (0.1% of the previous year's GDP) shall be divided by the total number of voters in the country and the number obtained must be multiplied by the number of voters in the respective electoral district.

9. Restrictions provided by the Organic Law of Georgia on Political Associations of Citizens shall apply to election/referendum campaign expenses and sources of funding, except for the exception provided for by paragraph 10 of this article.

10. When a campaign is funded by an electoral bloc, it is possible for the parties united in the bloc to transfer the funds in the fund of their political associations to the fund of the political association, which is registered as the number one electoral bloc.

11. Violation of the requirement provided for by paragraphs 7 and 8 of this article shall result in a fine of double the amount of th expense incurred in excess.

Organic Law of Georgia No 6723 of 2 July 2020 – website, 3.7.2020