Head of IATF Recommendation to the Tbilisi Mayor’s Office and to MIA

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On 17 April, Giga Bokeria, the Chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force, issued the below recommendation regarding a case where Patrol Police removed electoral advertisement. The recommendation were not accepted by the majority of the IATF members on the basis that ‘’calling for participation in the 19 April demonstration" is not a pre-election campaign exercise.

The Head of IATF expresses concern about the video footage disseminated by the media showing patrol police officers tearing down National Movement posters advertising the April 19 rally from a wall.

The Head of IATF welcomes the statement by the Deputy Director of the Patrol Police Department of the MIA, which acknowledges that police officers tore down the posters on their own initiative and says that the ministry will study this action. However, in the opinion of Head of IATF, the statement by the patrol police official that the posters were in a prohibited place constitutes abuse of power on the part of the MIA.

The Head of IATF also considers it important to clarify some issues related to the mandates of various agencies and the rules of placing advertising materials:

According to Part 4 of Article 46 of the Electoral Code, “It is prohibited and punishable by law to take down, tear down, cover or damage campaign posters, if they are not placed at prohibited places.” The Electoral Code instructs local administrations to specify places, where political actors are prohibited to place their campaign posters. The IATF issued a recommendation on 10 September 2012, which called on the local administrations to widen the area open for placing campaign materials and to make only reasonable restrictions. According to the IATF recommendation, such are: first, places defined by law – buildings of religious and cultural heritage, government and local administration buildings, courts, prosecutors’ offices, interior and exterior of military and police buildings, road signs; and second, places defined by the local administrations as having cultural or economic interest, architectural or artistic-esthetical value. 

On 9 August 2012, by decree №20.01.758, the Tbilisi Mayor’s Office specified the list of places where placing campaign materials are prohibited. Bush Street, where the incident took place, is not among such places. Therefore, it is unclear on what basis the patrol police official’s statement that the posters were placed at a prohibited location was made.

At the same time, Part 4 of Article 93 of the Electoral Code stipulates that in the case of removed, torn down, covered or damaged campaign posters, an administrative violation protocol will be written by the local administration. According to Article 80 of the Code, such action is punished by a fine of 1000 lari; if committed by an official – 2000 lari.

The Head IATF calls Tbilisi Mayor’s Office to:

• Quickly study the incident and take appropriate steps;

At the same time, in order to guarantee a free and fair election environment, the Head of IATF calls the Ministry of Internal Affairs to:

• Respond to incidents involving abuse of power by the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;

• Clarify to all Ministry employees the legal norms and their competencies in order to avoid hindering the ability of electoral actors to communicate freely with voters.

www.nsc.gov.ge/