On April 20, Transparency International Georgia submitted a legislative proposal to the Parliament, the main purpose of which is to prohibit pre-electoral agitation, including advertisements, that include the threat of violation by the Russian Federation of the territorial integrity and constitutional order of Georgia, the independence and sovereignty of the country and/or the legitimation of occupation.

The draft law aims at fixing the gap in legislation which does not prohibit advertisements if there is no direct call for war and violence. On the other hand, the electoral code regulates only pre-electoral programmes and not agitation.

The purpose of this rule is to neutralize direct and indirect influence methods, used by Russia, by which Russia tries to change the Western course of the development of the country and influence the political environment in Georgia.

The draft law is an important step forward against Russian propaganda, which is an actual problem for the European Union as well. For example, it is interesting to mention the European Parliament resolution of 23 November 2016 on EU strategic communication to counteract propaganda against it by third parties. The Resolution named the Russian Federation and Islamic terrorism groups as the main source of propaganda. The Resolution also discussed the propaganda aimed at the EU and calls upon the EU institutions to take due actions against it.

According to the draft law, amendments are made into the following laws: “Law on Broadcasting”, “Electoral Code”, “Political Unions of Citizens”, “Law on the Constitutional Court of Georgia”.

Package of Legislative Amendments Against Pro-Russian Anti-State Propaganda