Statement of the Public Movement Multinational Georgia (PMMG) with regard to the electoral amendments as prepared by the Parliamentary Working Group

Parliamentary Working Group on Electoral Reforms has drafted the amendments to the Elections Code which will be discussed by the Parliament in the shortest period of time.

The legal amendments are rested on the political agreement reached among the ruling party “Georgian Dream”, political party “Citizens” and political party “European Socialists”.

According to the draft amendments, the staffing procedure of the elections commission will be modified. The CEC as well as DECs will be composed by 8 members selected on professional ground and 9 members being the party representatives to satisfy the parity principle (1 party 1 member).

The existing electoral formula for the conduct of local self-government elections will be modified; the electoral threshold will be diminished; moreover, in some electoral precincts, the new system of voters’ electoral registration and ballot counting will be introduced. Some other electoral changes will also be initiated.

Drafted electoral amendments reflect the recommendations as proposed by the PMMG which deserves the positive account. These recommendations imply:

• Broadening the existing time frame for the submission and adjudication of complaints;
• Broadening the existing time frame for the selection of PEC members;
• Removal of the problematic regulation pertaining the development of the correction protocols to the summary protocols;
• Introduction of the preventive measures to avoid the dismissal of the complaints on a formal ground.

PMMG believes, that the issue of composition of the elections commission, is among those challenging topics not reflected in the draft amendments. 

According to the proposed draft, the right of the political party to have its representative in the elections commission is directly related to: the participation of the underlined political party in the elections; reception of public financing and fulfilment of the Parliamentary duties by at least one representative of the political party. 

Therefore, those political parties, which do not hold the Parliamentary mandated, are not given the opportunity to have the members in the CEC and DECs. Moreover, they cannot enjoy the right to have the representative in the commission financed by the state budget.

PMMG believes, that introduction of such restrictions to political parties, will jeopardize political stability as well as impede the adequate representation of political parties in the election commissions.

All political parties should have the right to have the representatives in the CEC and the DECs in case they independently participated in the last Parliamentary Elections as well as their nominees have been elected in the parliament according to the proportional system.

Therefore, the right of the political party to have the representative in the election commission should not be associated with the fulfilment of legislative duties by the party. Moreover, the existing mixed model of composition of the election commission  should also be remained at the PEC level in line with equipping the political parties with the respective right to appoint the member.

In addition, all political parties which independently participated in 2020 Parliamentary Elections and obtained Parliamentary mandates, should have the right to maintain the financed representatives in the election commissions at all levels.

In view of the above calls on:

• the state authorities to continue working for the purpose of improvement of the draft law;
• the political parties which have overcome the threshold, to get engaged in the Parliamentary hearings regarding the electoral amendments and take active part in a process of improvement of the electoral environment.  

2021-03-04 10:33:53| | 5717