The Communications Commission has deemed Rustavi 2 to have violated the Election Code of Georgia by refusing to place paid political advertising, while Teleimedi has been deemed to have violated the Election Code by refusing to place paid political advertising and unlawfully disseminating the results of a public opinion poll. Both broadcasters have been issued with an administrative violation report. 

In case of Rustavi 2, the Commission received a complaint from the political union Strong Georgia – Lelo, For the People, For Freedom, according to which, despite signing an agreement for the placement of paid political advertising, the broadcaster refused to air the advert submitted by Strong Georgia. 

In case of Teleimedi, the Commission once again received a complaint from the political union Strong Georgia – Lelo, For the People, For Freedom, according to which, the broadcaster refused to air the party’s pre-election/political adverts. On the same day, it became known through various media sources that Teleimedi was henceforth refusing to air all political adverts from opposition parties. 

According to the Election Code, a broadcast licence holder or authorised broadcaster must, not later than 5 calendar days from the 60^th day before polling, for the purpose of publishing on the website of the Communications Commission, submit information on airtime tariffs for the paid pre-election advertising campaign. Such tariffs shall be effective from the 50^th day before the polling. The broadcaster publishing the tariffs is obliged to air the paid adverts submitted by the relevant political parties. Failure to do so violates the legislation. In addition, the guidebook of the Communications Commission prohibits discrimination and requires broadcasters to air the submitted paid political adverts of all electoral subjects equally. 

In addition, while reporting the results of the public opinion poll from 9 October, Teleimedi failed to specify the person ordering the poll, the polling method, the possible margin of error, and whether the poll was paid or free of charge. On 10 October, the broadcaster once again reported the results of a poll without specifying the date of the poll, the possible margin of error, and the polling method.

According to the Election Code of Georgia, that when publishing public opinion poll results, the broadcaster must specify the person ordering the poll, the date of the poll, the polling method, the possible margin of error, and whether the poll is paid or free of charge, as well as the exact formulation of the questions used in the poll.

In light of the above, the Communications Commission deemed Rustavi 2 and Teleimedi to have violated the Election Code and issued the broadcasters with violation reports.