33. What criteria determine allocation for free or subsidized access to media for political parties?

Article 30, paragraph 12, Organic Law of Georgia on Political Unions of Citizens, 1997.

In order to provide financial support to the election campaigns of political parties during the year of general parliamentary and local self-government elections, additional funding shall be allocated from the state budget of Georgia to cover TV advertising costs. According to the Georgian legislation, the funding shall be received only by political parties, which have become eligible for funding according to the results of the recent general elections. The amount of funding allocated to a political party shall be calculated by multiplying the number of votes obtained by the relevant electoral subject in the recent general elections by three and dividing it by the number of political parties within the electoral subject. Also, the amount of funding allocated to a political party and electoral bloc (despite the number of parties in the bloc) participating independently in the elections may not exceed GEL 600,000. At least 15% of the funding allocated to an electoral subject shall be used for pre-election advertising with at least 7 broadcasters, which do not represent national broadcasters.