The pre-election environment of the parliamentary elections of October 26, 2024 was uneven, and the decisions and approaches of the state agencies towards election violations were unfair and biased in favor of the ruling party, - this is stated in the report of the monitoring mission "My Voice" on the pre-election environment, in which a number of civil society organizations participated in the mission.

According to the assessment of the observation mission, the ruling party started preparing for such an election environment a long time ago. In particular, the report mentions that "Georgian Dream" hijacked all state institutions, started a large-scale discrediting campaign of non-governmental organizations, worsened and adapted the election legislation to its interests.

"Obviously, the subordination of all state bodies to the ruling party had a negative impact on the pre-election process. All three branches of government and also the so-called "Independent institutions" acted completely in accordance with the interests of the ruling party. Court decisions were/are usually in favor of the CEC and/or the ruling party. The law enforcement agencies did not react properly or did not react at all and inform the public about the initiation or refusal to initiate the investigation, despite the fact that the voter's will was recorded by various proven methods - including threats, intimidation, illegal use of personal data in the possession of state agencies, "Facts of influence by confiscation of identity cards, bribery, illegal promises, and also attacks on opposition representatives," the report states.

According to the assessment of the monitoring mission, a hostile environment was created for non-governmental organizations in the pre-election period, which was preceded by the adoption of the Law "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" ("Russian Law") in April 2024.

"Threats, verbal attacks, and discrediting campaigns against the civil sector were active during the pre-election period. Not a single political official remained who was not involved in the disinformation and discrediting campaign of the civil sector. Among them, the so-called The head of the independent agency, which tried to stop the activity of the observation mission by an illegal decision. Also, some representatives of the civil sector appeared in a negative context in the official election advertisement of the ruling party. The pre-election period took place in the background of a massive disinformation campaign. Practically, the entire state machinery, as well as government-controlled and managed propaganda media, served the electoral goals of the ruling party. In this process, not only the legislative and executive authorities, but also the judicial authorities and the so-called Independent institutions as well - the Central Election Commission, the Communications Commission and the Anti-Corruption Bureau," the report notes.

As the monitoring mission "My Voice" explains, the characteristic tendency of the pre-election period was also the use of legal, institutional and financial administrative resources by the ruling party for electoral purposes.

According to their own assessment, large-scale mobilization of employees of budgetary organizations for the election campaign was revealed, including taking public officials to their supporting actions against their will, using budgetary programs for narrow-party purposes.

"The scale of financing of the election campaign and parties in general was also uneven. Donations with a high risk of political corruption to the ruling party were recorded, although the anti-corruption bureau was completely inactive despite our numerous appeals. Media critical of the government was the target of constant attacks by the government. The Communications Commission, which tried in vain to create a facade of neutrality by fining the government's propaganda channels, mostly illegally and unjustifiably fined broadcasting companies critical of the government. During the election period, access to the media for election subjects was also markedly unequal. Government-edited media outlets were closed to opposition parties and civil society. In addition, members of the ruling party did not visit critical media outlets, which damaged the process of informing the voters. The CEC's work in the pre-election period in the direction of informing voters, smoothly registering observation organizations and observers, and also including part of Georgian citizens living abroad in the special election list should be positively evaluated. However, due to the insufficient number of constituencies created abroad, it remains a serious challenge for a large number of immigrants to participate in elections. It is also problematic that the CEC has changed the method of distribution of the functions of the commission members at the polling station by lot, due to which many monitoring organizations could not observe the process of distribution of functions among the commission members," the report states.

The observation mission "My Voice" will observe the process of voting in the elections in all regions of Georgia and abroad.