Misuse of Administrative Resources for Elections: International standards, Georgia's regulatory framework and practice
The present policy document analyzed international standards on restricting the misuse of administrative resources for elections and the compliance of Georgia's regulatory framework and practice with these standards.
Several international institutions are working on implementing international standards and good practices about electoral issues in Europe. Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR play a crucial role in that regard.
Georgia's regulatory framework for limiting the misuse of administrative resources for elections mostly complies with international standards. However, several issues need to be regulated more effectively. Enforcement of regulations and the misuse of administrative resources, in practice in a way that does not formally amount to a violation of law but significantly impacts a fair and competitive electoral environment, remain a significant problem.
Concentrating administrative resources in the ruling party's hands and its misuse for election purposes is an important challenge in Georgia. Equality of the electoral environment is fundamentally affected by initiating large social, infrastructural, or healthcare projects and their implementation during an active pre-election period, as well as alleged politically motivated dismissals, intimidation and harassment of citizens, forced resignations, and inadequate investigation of such cases.
Improvements in the legislation should be coupled with enforcing existing norms effectively and with integrity to solve these problems. Central and local authorities should refrain from engaging in the current malign practices.
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