The recent amendments to the Election Code do not comply with the recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission and may further reduce trust in the CEC, the report of the pre-election delegation of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) states.
Based on the report, the most noteworthy fact is that the position of the CEC deputy chairman, which was held by a CEC member appointed from the opposition parties, was abolished. According to the document, all this, together with the high threshold set for parliamentary elections, reduces the possibilities of reaching a political consensus in the decision-making process and increasing public confidence in the CEC’s impartiality.
“Recent amendments to the Electoral Code, including those adopted in the third reading on February 20, 2024, when the delegation was in Georgia, do not comply with the recommendations of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR) and the Venice Commission, and , may further reduce confidence in the CEC. The composition of the CEC and the process of electing members underwent significant changes. In order to ensure consensus in a polarized political environment, according to the agreement of April 19, it was recommended to implement changes in the process of appointing CEC members, so that on the basis of consensus, with the support of two-thirds of the parliament, the chairman and professional members of CEC could be elected for a five-year term. Due to insufficient support, the current chairman of the CEC was elected in August 2021 for a six-month term. Since then, no nominated candidate has received two-thirds of the votes, and as a result, based on the Election Code, Kalandarishvili performs the duties of the chairman until a new chairman is elected. With the amendments made to the Election Code, the authority to nominate CEC members was transferred from the President to the Chairman of the Parliament, and the number of votes required for election was changed several times. Changes in recent years have reduced the required quorum from two-thirds of the full membership of the Parliament to a simple majority, and finally, as of February 2024, the support of three-fifths of the full membership of the Parliament is required to elect the Speaker and professional members for a 5-year term. What is most noteworthy, the position of the deputy chairman of the CEC, which was held by a member of the CEC appointed from the opposition parties, was abolished. All this, together with the high threshold set for the parliamentary elections, reduces the possibilities of reaching a political consensus in the decision-making process and increasing public confidence in the CEC’s impartiality,” the report states.
The report was prepared by the international monitoring delegation of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), which visited Georgia on February 19-25, ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2024. The mentioned elections are the first elections for Georgia after receiving the status of EU membership candidate; In addition, for the first time, elections will be held with a new electoral system, which involves the distribution of parliamentary mandates by proportional representation and the indirect election of the president. New technologies will also be widely used on election day. The delegation aimed at an impartial and accurate assessment of the general political environment in the country for the parliamentary elections, a review of the current pre-election processes, as well as the development of recommendations to promote more inclusive, transparent and accountable election processes, and to demonstrate the international community’s support for credible elections and democratic governance in Georgia.
The members of the delegation were: An Linde, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden; Per Eklund, former head of the EU delegation in Georgia; Michael Posner, former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the United States Department of State; Daniel Gottfried, Legislative and Policy Analyst, Office of the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Eva Busha, National Democratic Institute (NDI) Eurasia Regional Director; and Richard Klein, director of election programs at the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
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