Another working meeting on electoral topics was held with media representatives. Giorgi Kalandarishvili, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Natia Zaalishvili, Director of Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Training Centre (Training Centre), and David Ghonghadze, Country Deputy Director for Georgia at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), made opening remarks at the meeting. 

Giorgi Kalandarishvili informed media representatives about adopting electronic voting technologies in Georgia. During his presentation, the Chairperson discussed election modernization, the application of electronic technologies, and the importance of their adoption in detail. 

“Media plays a particular role in the process of the development of electoral culture and large-scale adoption of electronic means in terms of informing voters. Therefore, the Election Administration (EA) constantly assists the media to have precise, timely, and comprehensive information about electoral issues. Certainly, this meeting, first of all, serves this aim. It can be further said that precisely the media outlets have one of the important roles to bring objective and detailed information to the voter”, the CEC Chairperson said. 

During the two days, journalists got familiarized with how electronic voting technologies operate and how the 1 October by/extraordinary elections and 2024 parliamentary elections will be held. 

Legislative novelties, the communication strategy of the EA and activities planned in this regard, international standards of elections’ coverage, media’s role and rights during the polling process, and regulations of photo/video recording during the E-day is an incomprehensive list of topics provided by representatives of the EA and the IFES to participants. The discussion took place, and journalists received comprehensive answers to their questions. 

A conclusive part of the meeting focused on the demonstration of electronic voting technologies, and mock elections took place during which journalists tested verification and vote-counting devices in practice. 

The CEC and Training Centre organized the working meeting with media representatives with the support of the IFES, which was held on 23-24 September in Telavi.