The changes are to be introduced to the Election Code aiming to improve the law, ensure stable development of the democratic processes, raise the trust in the elections and to fulfill the commitments under the memorandum between the parties.

The draft changes were introduced for the discussion to the Human Rights and Civil Integration and the Procedural Issues and Rules Committees.

“The political parties, in view of improvement of the electoral system and procedures, held the multi-level dialogue resulting in the development of the recommendations oriented to a higher trust to the elections, and stable development of the democratic processes, the recommendations have been developed into the memorandum, signed by the political unions of citizens: “Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia”, “Aleko Elisashvili – Citizens”, and later “European Socialists”. The Agreement envisaged the development of the legal changes for consideration by the Parliament. The draft aims at the reflection of the norms in the Code to eliminate the gaps detected as a result of the Parliamentary Elections 2020, it reflects the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations and will meet the aspiration of the memorandum”, - one of the authors, Shalva Papuashvili noted.

The draft organic law on Changes to the Election Code envisages: change of the rule of the CEC activity and decision-making, number of the CEC members, composition and election of the members, appointment of the CEC members by the parties and termination of credentials thereof.

The draft offers the new rule of the election of the CEC Chair, specifies the authorities of the DEC, changes the rule of the establishment of the DEC, number of members, and appointment of the administration. 8 CEC members, by the nomination of the President, will be elected by the Parliament, 9 will be appointed by the parties.

The CEC Chair will be elected by 2/3 of the CEC members by the nomination of the President through a secret ballot, or the Parliament. The authorities of the Chair shall be determined according to his/her membership term. The President of Georgia shall select and nominate to the Parliament 8 candidates for the members. The authority term of the members elected shall be determined as 5 years.

The draft also envisages the rule of the establishment of the PEC, appointment of the members and authorities thereof.

“We have forthcoming Municipal Elections and we shall consider the terms related to the adoption of the Law. There will be 2 vacant positions in the CEC and we need to adhere to the special rule against the blocking”, - the reporter noted.

The draft envisages the restriction of the list of the persons credible to participate in the pre-electoral campaign, and establishes a new rule of the use of the administrative resources, the restriction implies the prohibition of the physical impediment of the movement of the electors at 100m-distance from the polling station.

“The physical impediment of the movement of the electors at the 100m-distance from the polling station shall be inadmissible, as well as the assembly or registration of the persons at the 100m-distance from the polling station”, - the reporter added.

The draft changes the rule and terms of calculation of the voting and election results and the appeal terms and offers the new rule of determination of the composition of the municipal representative body – Assembly.

“The draft envisages the calculation of 5 districts per constituency by a random selection, which providing that we have 73 constituencies, will constitute 365 districts – 10% of existing districts. 10% of the districts will be recalculated, which means full calculation of the elections”, - Sh. Papuashvili noted.

The draft provides the means of electronic activities. “In this process, started in February, there are 7 stations out of 13-14 not included in the memorandum or April 19 agreement, or established by the additional consultations. I am consent of the consultations with NGOs and we also had productive cooperation with the parties. The draft has been submitted to Venice Commission. We appealed for the prompt feedback and the opinion, and even indicated the date – June 6 as a deadline as the plenary session is scheduled on June 7 where the draft shall be discussed with the II reading”, - the reporter stated.

The opposition MPs expressed their positions. “We discussed the draft, which will be reflected in the Committee conclusion. Our position is positive in the part as well, which is provided in the draft in terms of the Rules of Procedure”, - the Chair of the Procedural Committee, Irakli Kadagishvili stated.

The Committee approved the draft.