As Georgia enters the next important cycle of the 2024 Parliamentary and 2025 Municipal elections, safeguarding an equal electoral playing field is a prerequisite for Georgia’s democratic development. Thus, ISFED, the major election watchdog in Georgia, along with co-applicants Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS), a reputable think tank in Georgia, and the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, an organization dedicated to developing journalistic norms, intend to undertake the project - "Georgia Votes - Supporting Free and Fair Election Cycle in Georgia". The overall objective of the project is to improve the electoral environment in Georgia by fostering free and fair elections through comprehensive nationwide monitoring of electoral processes, promoting voter education and facilitating open and transparent communication between political parties and voters. The action consists of a set of activities that correspond to three specific objectives:
1. To safeguard electoral integrity in Georgia by conducting comprehensive, impartial election monitoring of the 2024 Parliamentary and 2025 Municipal elections.
2. To promote civic education on electoral rights, responsibilities, and processes in order to increase citizen participation and protect voters' rights.
3. To facilitate transparent and effective communication between political parties and voters, thereby promoting accountability, openness, and trust in the electoral process.

1. To safeguard electoral integrity in Georgia by conducting comprehensive, impartial election monitoring of the 2024 Parliamentary and 2025 Municipal elections.
2. To promote civic education on electoral rights, responsibilities, and processes in order to increase citizen participation and protect voters' rights.
3. To facilitate transparent and effective communication between political parties and voters

Specific objective 1: Activities under this specific objective are aimed at delivering a professional citizen observation and providing an impartial assessment of the 2024 and 2025 elections. The project involves:
a) Long-term observation– ISFED will deploy 73 LTOs across Georgia to monitor the pre-election environment, document electoral violations, and observe processes for 3 months prior to the elections.
b) Election Day observation – ISFED will deploy approximately 1000 STOs, including those from ethnic minority areas and disabled observers at adapted polling stations, as well as 73 observers at District Election Commissions and 85 mobile teams. ISFED's central office will operate two centers: a data collection center using a new digital portal for gathering information from STOs, and an incident center staffed by lawyers to provide consultations in case of electoral disputes.
c) Post-election observation of dispute resolution – ISFED will follow up on irregularities and monitor complaint deliberations and electoral disputes.

ISFED will run the Election Portal, a platform that enables observers, citizens, and local NGOs to report election violations. The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, a co-applicant, will conduct thorough thematic television monitoring for up to 3 months, focusing on how election-related issues are covered in the media. This monitoring will provide a comprehensive analysis of media portrayal during the election period. ISFED will also monitor social media for violations of campaign regulations, report findings to authorities, and expose disinformation. Also, ISFED will conduct workshops for media professionals on effective coverage of election-related issues, conveying political agendas to voters, and presenting voter wishes to politicians.
Outputs for each election: 73 LTOs deployed, around 4 election monitoring reports produced, around 1000 static STOs deployed during E-Day, at least 4 E-Day statements issued, at least 200 incidents reported, a relevant number of complaints filed regarding violations, and 3 social media monitoring reports produced, 2-days workshop for around 30 media conducted, up to 3 months media monitoring conducted (only for 2024).

Specific objective 2: Activities will focus on educating Georgian citizens about their electoral rights and responsibilities, as well as encouraging their participation in the electoral process, especially among youth, socially vulnerable communities, and the diaspora. Initially, ISFED will conduct research to identify voter behavior and obstacles to these groups' participation in elections to develop tailored campaigns.
Youth – ISFED will use memorandums and partnerships with universities/educational institutions to implement its curriculum "I vote for the first time" and provide training to first-time voters across the country. Socially vulnerable voters – ISFED district coordinators will hold meetings in local municipalities to discuss voting security and secrecy. In addition, 5 sub-grants will be awarded to regional grassroots CSOs for voter education campaigns targeting women, youth, ethnic minorities, remote areas, and IDPs. Moreover, ISFED will provide short videos on the secrecy of the vote and other crucial topics related to elections to 27 regional televisions for this audience.
Diaspora – ISFED will provide voting abroad guidance through Facebook Lives on pages created for Georgians overseas. It will also work with GFSIS to increase Georgian parish turnout in Europe by engaging Georgian eparchies there.
GOTV campaign – The consortium will commission a production company to create an engaging and innovative GOTV campaign using digital tools. ISFED plans to run short video ads on TikTok using influencers to reach youth, and use Facebook with influencers for the elderly. ISFED may also collaborate with delivery companies and online media platforms to facilitate voting.
Outputs: research conducted, at least 1000 youth trained, 15 Facebook lives broadcasted for the diaspora, at least 3 eparchies contacted, at least 64 municipality meetings conducted, 5 sub-grants issued, GOTV campaign launched, TikTok videos posted, private companies collaborated, short videos broadcasted on regional TV.

Specific objective 3: GFSIS, a co-applicant, will implement actions to enhance communication between political parties and voters. This will be based on the supply-demand theory, aiming to provide political parties with voter needs and supporting parties with policy development skills. GFSIS will organize 3-month political schools for party representatives with capacity-building sessions in policy analysis. As a second activity, GFSIS will conduct roundtable discussions for dialogue between political parties and diverse voter groups such as ethnic and religious minorities, mountainous voters, women, youth, and IDPs. ISFED, in partnership with IRI Georgia and four German foundations (KAS, FEF, FNF, HBF), plans to develop Election Compass, an online tool, designed to assist voters in identifying political parties aligned with their ideologies. Consultation has already been conducted with IRI and the German foundations.
Outputs: 3-month capacity-building political school (up to 25 participants per cohort) held, 10 roundtable discussions conducted and an Election Compass created.

This project is expected to yield the following results:

Increased transparency and accountability of the electoral process and citizen oversight through professional, nonpartisan observation and improved media coverage of elections.

Increased voter awareness and greater voter participation among youth, socially vulnerable groups and the Georgian diaspora in elections.

Increased knowledge of political parties on voters’ needs, enhanced understanding of political parties’ programs, and improved communication between political parties and voters.