President Salome Zurabishvili vetoed amendments to the Election Code of Georgia recently passed by Parliament.
The President’s 11-page motivated remarks have been submitted to Parliament, and she explained them referring to the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations.
Among her remarks, she says that, based on the amendments, the President’s role in presenting candidates for chairperson and members of the Central Election Commission (CEC) remains limited. She notes that adding a passage to the February 20 legislative amendments that “if parliament fails to elect a candidate twice consecutively, once by 3/5 and then 1/2 of the majority, and then hands the issue to the president,” does not increase the President’s quality of involvement, since it is unlikely that parliament will not be able to elect a candidate.
President Zurabishvili proposes announcing an open competition for the post of CEC Chair and members before May 1, 2024, whose 6-month and 5-year duty terms have expired. She also suggests establishing a competition commission to proceed with relevant procedures.
