Processing of voters' personal data by political parties within the framework of the election campaign (agitation)

The processing of voters' personal data by registered political parties is particularly evident during the election campaign (agitation).

According to the Election Code of Georgia, election agitation is interpreted as a call to voters to support or oppose an election subject/candidate for election, as well as any public action that facilitates or hinders their election, and/or contains elements of a pre-election campaign, including participation in organizing/conducting pre-election events, storing or distributing election materials, working on lists of supporters, and more. Political parties actively process voters' personal data within the framework of the election campaign.

Have you wondered how political parties have access to your personal data? As we informed in the previous post, based on electoral legislation and at the request of political parties, for the purpose of ensuring transparency and reliability of the electoral processes, the CEC provides them with the electronic version of the unified voter list. Consequently, political parties receive and process your, the voter's, personal data, such as: name, surname, date of birth, registration address. In the process of processing your personal data, political parties act as data controllers and have all the obligations provided by the Law of Georgia "On Personal Data Protection". They are obliged to handle your data in such a way that your rights are protected, as well as develop technical and organizational measures that ensure data security against loss, unlawful processing, including destruction, deletion, alteration, disclosure, or use.

You have the right to request:

➢ Confirmation as to whether your personal data is being processed and to receive information about the grounds, purpose, and retention periods of your data processing;

➢ Information on the sources from which your personal data was obtained;

➢ Access to your personal data and/or request copies;

➢ Suspension (blocking) or termination of the processing of your personal data;

➢ Realization of other rights provided by Chapter 3 of the Law of Georgia "On Personal Data Protection".

Political subjects, within the framework of election agitation, try to gain voters' trust in various ways. Specifically, they present election programs, make pre-election promises, call on voters to support them, and campaigns against competing political parties are also common.

Besides public events, political parties often use various electronic means for agitation. A prominent example of this is the dissemination of calls for support to voters through SMS messages, phone calls, emails, and/or other electronic means.

Within the framework of pre-election agitation, the vast majority of you have at least once received an SMS message, phone call, or email containing agitation.

It is important to know:

✓ Any pre-election offer or call for support made to you by political parties within the framework of the election campaign via SMS, phone calls, emails, or other electronic means is considered one form of direct marketing, as direct marketing includes actions aimed at forming, maintaining, or supporting interest in an idea for the data subject using various electronic means.

✓ According to the new Law of Georgia "On Personal Data Protection", processing of voters' data for the purpose of direct marketing is prohibited without the consent of data subjects (including in certain cases written consent). Therefore, if, without your consent, you receive calls to support any political party or various pre-election offers on your phone number and/or any electronic platform, this will be regarded as a violation of the law's requirements, and as a data subject, for the purpose of protecting your rights, you have the opportunity to apply to the Personal Data Protection Service to demand cessation of unlawful processing of your personal data for direct marketing.

✓ As a data subject, you have the right to request cessation of direct marketing at any time, and this request imposes an obligation on the subjects carrying out pre-election agitation to cease sending SMS messages, phone calls, email messages with election calls and promises, and distribution of agitation materials to you within a reasonable time, but no later than 7 working days from your request.

It is interesting to understand how you can realize your right and request the cessation of the direct marketing process. According to the new regulations of the Law of Georgia "On Personal Data Protection", political parties, as data controllers, are obliged to determine adequately accessible means for you to realize this right of request. This may be carried out in the same form in which you gave consent (if applicable) for your data to be processed for direct marketing purposes. Additionally, the law mandates that subjects processing your personal data must provide you with clear and easily understandable information on how/by what procedures and means you can request cessation of processing your data for direct marketing. If political parties have not obtained your consent or have obtained it but have not clearly and easily informed you of the right to withdraw consent and accessible means for realizing this right, remember, your rights have been violated, and you can apply to the Personal Data Protection Service.

DPT Consulting wishes you an environment where the feeling of confidentiality always accompanies you, and your rights, including voting and privacy rights, are protected and guaranteed.