Less than one year is left before the next parliamentary elections in Georgia. Unfortunately, ongoing negotiations between the government of Georgia and opposition parties ended without any results; so necessary legislative basis for fair and competitive election environment was not created yet. The problems in media freedom and human rights fields also remain and right of voters to freedom of choice cannot be guaranteed without resolving those problems.
Thus, active involvement of civil society organizations and the society in general in the formation process of normal election environment has particular significance.
The undersigned organizations believe that:
• Activities of separate organizations are not enough for the improvement of the current situation and we shall start joint coordinated activities in order to improve the election environment.
• Monitoring of the election environment shall start now and not after the election day is set;
• Together with monitoring of the current situation, concrete proposals shall be initiated for the completion of the legislative basis and for the improvement of the activities of concrete institutions;
• When violations are observed, we shall make authoritative bodes to respond to violation facts and to punish perpetrators under the law.
In order to achieve the abovementioned goals, and for effective implementation of our duties, the undersigned organizations decided to join our resources and establish Coalition for “Freedom of Choice”.
In our struggle for the better election environment, we will cooperate with Georgian and international civil society organizations, political parties and diplomatic corps. In addition to that, we will focus on carrying out our activities in the regions of Georgia and will cooperate with local non-governmental and media organizations.
1. Irakli Melashvili expert for election issues;
2. Zviad Koridze media-expert;
3. Kote Kandelaki International Center of Civic Culture;
4. Ucha Nanuashvili Human Rights Center;
5. Ia Mamaladze Georgia’s Media-Monitoring Center;
6. Giorgi Khutsishvili International Center for Conflict and
Negotiation;
7. Davit Narmania Caucasian Institute of Economy and Social
Studies;
8. Magda Popiashvili Media Club of Georgia;
9. Davit Losaberidze Center of National Democracy Network;
10.Murman Pataraia Resource Center for Civic Education.