Georgia Draft Amendments to the Organic Law of Georgia
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Strasbourg, 30 March 2021 CDL-REF(2021)031 Opinion No. 1030 / 2021 Engl.only EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW (VENICE COMMISSION) GEORGIA DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO THE ORGANIC LAW OF GEORGIA “ELECTION CODE OF GEORGIA” This document will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy. www.venice.coe.int CDL-REF(2021)031 - 2 - Article 1 – The following amendments shall be made to the Organic Law of Georgia “Election Code of Georgia” (Legislative Herald of Georgia (“Saqartvelos Sakanonmdeblo Matsne”), (www.matsne.gov.ge)), 10.01.2012, Registration Code: 010190020.04.001.016032: 1. Article 8 a) paragraphs 3 and 4 shall be formulated as follows: “3. A session shall be authorised if attended by the majority of the election commission members in the list.“. 4. A commission decision shall be deemed adopted if supported by a majority of the members present at the session (unless this Law provides for a higher quorum), but by not less than one-third of the election commission members in the list. The decisions of an election commission regarding the decisions made by lower election commissions, including the nullification of electoral district/precinct results, opening of packages received from the election commission, and counting of election ballot papers, shall be adopted by not less than two-thirds of those present at the session.”. b) paragraph 6 shall be formulated as follows: “6. Issues of human resources shall be resolved at the session by the majority vote of the election commission members in the list.”. 2. Article 10 shall be formulated as follows: “Article 10 – Composition of the CEC and procedures for electing the CEC Chairperson 1. The CEC shall be composed of 17 members, including a Chairperson. Termination of the authority of the CEC Chairperson concurrently shall result in the termination of his/her membership. The Parliament of Georgia shall elect 8 members of the CEC, upon recommendation by the President of Georgia, while the parties shall appoint 9 members, under the procedure established by this Law. 2. The CEC Chairperson shall be elected, upon recommendation by the President of Georgia, by two- thirds of the members of the CEC in the list, by secret ballot, or by the Parliament of Georgia based on the procedure established by this Article. The term of office of the CEC Chairperson shall be defined by his/her term as a CEC member. 3. Upon availability of the CEC chairperson vacancy, the President of Georgia shall nominate 1 candidate for the position of the CEC chairperson, from among the CEC members elected by the Parliament. 4. The decision to elect the CEC Chairperson shall be made by the two-thirds of the CEC members in the list, within 5 days following the nomination of candidates. Voting for the election of the CEC Chairperson shall be secret. Each voting member shall have one vote. The minutes of the session and the CEC ordinance on the election of the CEC Chairperson shall be signed by the chairperson of the session. 5. If the CEC Chairperson is not elected within the time frame defined by paragraph 5 of this Article, the President of Georgia shall submit the same candidate to the Parliament of Georgia. the latter shall, within 7 days, elect the CEC Chairperson. - 3 - CDL - REF(202 1)031 6. A CEC ordinance regarding the election of the Chairperson shall be sent to the Parliament of Georgia within 7 days, and as prescribed by paragraph 6 of this Article, the decision of the Parliament of Georgia shall be submitted to the CEC, within 7 days.”. 3. Article 12 a) Paragraph 1 shall be formulated as follows: “1. The President of Georgia shall select and submit to the Parliament of Georgia 8 candidates for CEC membership as determined by this Article. The term of office of CEC members elected by the Parliament of Georgia shall be 5 years.”. b) Paragraph 3 shall be formulated as follows: “3. The President of Georgia shall issue an ordinance on the vacancy announcement and setting up a selection commission not later than 30 days before the expiration of the term of office of a CEC member, and in case of early expiration of the term of a CEC member, not later than 15 days from its occurrence. A selection commission shall be composed of those non-profit (non-commercial) legal entities registered in Georgia, which have at least 3 years of experience in election observation. Vacancy selection documents shall be submitted not later than 14 days after the vacancy announcement. If the above time frame coincides with the election period, the President of Georgia shall make the vacancy notice not later than 7 days following the announcement of the final results of the election. The CEC member authority shall terminate upon electing a new member.”. 4. Article 13 shall be formulated as follows: Article 13 – Procedure for appointing and terminating the term of office of the CEC members by parties “1. A political party shall appoint one CEC member under Article 13 of this Law, once all the below conditions are met: a) A party was registered by the CEC Chairperson to run for parliamentary elections and in accordance with Article 125 (4, 5 and 9) was assigned a mandate of the member of the Georgian Parliament; b) The party envisaged by paragraph “a” shall be funded from the state budget in accordance with Article 30 of the Organic Law of Georgia “on Political Unions of Citizens”; c) At least one member of this political party, as envisaged by paragraph “a”, carries out activities of the member of the Parliament, in accordance with paragraph 10 of Article 224 of the Regulation of the Parliament. d) The party appoints the CEC member within 7 days after being authorized. 2. If the number of parties defined in this Article is more than 9, at the time of appointing a CEC member, the priority shall be given to a party that receives more funding from the state budget. 3. In case of equal funding while appointing the CEC member, the priority shall be given to the earliest registered party for the elections. 4. A party may withdraw the CEC member appointed by it. No such withdrawal shall take place during the period from the day of calling elections to the day of summing up the final election results. A party may appoint a new CEC member within the above period only in the case of resignation or death of the appointed member. CDL-REF(2021)031 - 4 - 5. For the purpose of this Article, the amount of budget funding for the parties in the bloc shall be defined as of January 2021.”. 5. Article 14, paragraph “f” and “g” shall be formulated as follows: “f) where necessary, to solve the issues defined by this Law, has the right to create a special group by ordinance adopted by at least two-thirds of the members in the list, define the authority and the term of the group; g) if a lower election commission does not or cannot fulfil the obligations under the legislation of Georgia, has the right to terminate the powers of the commission by ordinance adopted by at least two-thirds of the members in the list and create an interim group to be responsible for exercising the powers until a new commission is established.”. 6. Paragraph 3 shall be added to Article 18 and formulated as follows: “3. The number of Municipality representative body (Sakrebulo) members elected by proportional and majoritarian system shall be defined by the present Law.”. 7. Article 19 shall be formulated as follows: “Article 19. Setting up of DECs 1. A DEC is a standing territorial body of the Electoral Administration of Georgia. The CEC shall set up DECs by a majority of the CEC members in the list. A DEC has an official seal with its name on it, a stamp, and a settlement and current bank accounts. The DEC chairperson and accountant are responsible for the DEC expenditure authorized by the CEC. A DEC may spend funds allocated for elections from any account opened with any commercial bank and/or its branch office. 2. The CEC is authorized to set up by ordinance one DEC within the boundaries of one municipality, and 10 DECs within the Tbilisi City Municipality. The boundaries of a municipality concerned shall be the jurisdiction of a DEC. 3. The DEC member shall be elected for a term of 5 years, while the tenure of a DEC member elected by the CEC following the announcement of an election under the paragraph 5 of this Article shall be determined for the period starting with their appointment and ending with the announcement of final results of the respective elections. 4. 5 DEC members of shall be elected for a 5 year-term by the majority vote of the CEC members in the list. 5. After calling the elections, 9 DEC members shall be appointed by the respective political unions under the procedure established by Article 13 of this Law, and 3 members shall be elected by a majority vote of the CEC members in the list for the period until the final results of a respective election are announced. 6. The decision of a party on the appointment of a DEC member shall be submitted to the CEC within 7 calendar days after calling of the elections. - 5 - CDL - REF(202 1)031 7. A party may, at any time, except a polling day, recall a DEC member appointed by it. The party shall notify the respective electoral commission of this fact.