PACE monitors: Georgian ruling party, opposition election agreement is a ‘window of opportunity’
Co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have urged all parties to fulfill the agreement. Photo: CoE.
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Co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for the monitoring of Georgia, Titus Corlatean and Claude Kern, have stated that the March 8 election agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition ‘offers a window of opportunity for Georgia’s democratic consolidation.’
They welcomed the ‘constructive spirit’ in which the constitutional amendments to implement the agreement on the election system, ‘including with regard to the sensitive issue of the election districts, ’were agreed upon ‘between all stakeholders’.
They expressed hope that the ‘new spirit of engagement and co-operation’ would continue to exist during the organisation and conduct of the 2020 parliamentary elections.
As we stated last week, this agreement can help to reduce the chronic tensions and polarisation in the political environment, which has been affecting the democratic process in Georgia. We call upon all political players to maintain this momentum and to demonstrate the same political will and maturity to find agreement on the other issues that divide them,” they said in an official statement released yesterday.
PACE monitors Titus Corlăţean and Claude Kern, after positive #Tbilisi visit: #Georgia has “a window of opportunity“ https://t.co/QnWp6GZmm7 pic.twitter.com/PHDifRZiqC
— PACE (@PACE_News) March 17, 2020
They called on all partners to refrain from any action that could complicate or raise doubts about their commitment to the implementation of this pledge and to ensure the proper representation of female candidates both in the proportional and majoritarian components of the forthcoming elections.
The rapporteurs welcomed the adoption of the fourth wave of judicial reforms and expressed their hope that they would be implemented ‘promptly and coherently’.
They also welcomed the decision of the ruling majority not to appoint any additional judges to the Supreme Court during the current parliamentary session.
The rapporteurs urged the government to follow ‘all remaining Venice Commission recommendations’, in particular ‘with regard to abolishing secret voting, and introducing reasoned decisions and uniform and transparent selection criteria, in order to ensure a genuinely merit-based appointment process [in the court]’.