TI Georgia, ISFED leave consultations to select members for electoral commission’s advisory group
TI Georgia and ISFED have left consultations to select members for a new advisory group of the Georgian Central Election Commission because of other organisations involved in the selection process. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Tweet 
Share
Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) and International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) have left consultations to select members for the Georgian Central Election Commission’s advisory group for election disputes.
TI Georgia and ISFED say that other organisations which have been invited to select members of the advisory group ‘can not ensure the selection of qualified and reliable people.’
They say that the CEC initially stated that observer organisations should select members of the advisory group by consensus.
However, on August 6, the CEC amended the resolution stating that if the members of the advisory group could not be selected by consensus, they still would have a second chance.
During the second vote, candidates can be selected by the support of at least ⅔ of the observer organisations. This change made it possible for the CEC advisory group to be fully staffed by observers with a dubious reputation,” TI Georgia and ISFED say.
\
@isfed_official and @TIGeorgiaGeo are leaving the process of staffing the @cecgovge Advisory Group.
— ISFED (@isfed_official) August 8, 2021
List of the invited organizations and the decision-making procedure can not ensure the selection of qualified and reliable people by consensus.
https://t.co/nHyqdZmCbt
According to the June 2021 amendments to the Election Code of Georgia, within 10 days from the day of calling the elections, an advisory group of CEC with at least nine and not more than 15 members should be formed to submit recommendations on election disputes to the CEC.
The group should be composed of a representative of the Public Defender's Office of Georgia and international or local experts selected by the election observer organisations.
Per the CEC resolution no less than seven and no more than 11 candidates for the group should be submitted to the CEC by local observer organisations.
The CEC invited TI Georgia, ISFED and all local observer organisations that were registered with the CEC during the last three general elections to select the members of the group.
During the first meeting, we were informed that 15 such observer organisations expressed a desire to participate in this process. However, the credibility, good reputation, operations, and financial transparency of the vast majority of these organisations can be seriously questioned,” TI Georgia and ISFED say, adding that many of the organisations had received negative feedback from international and local observer organisations.
Both organisations say that they will continue observing the process.
The Central Election Commission has responded that the organisations’ decision is ‘regrettable’ and that TI Georgia’s ISFED’s participation in the process is important.
Members of the Girchi and Citizens opposition parties which have won six seats in the 150-member parliament in the October 31 elections met earlier today to discuss the current political crisis and made an offer to other opposition parties.
The International Republican Institute’s (IRI) Center for Insights in Survey Research has conducted its first nationwide poll of Georgia since the 2020 parliamentary elections which says that 60% of Georgian citizens either ‘definitely’ (42%) or ‘somewhat’ (18%) do not support the opposition’s boycott of parliament.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has confirmed October 2 as the date of local self-government elections of Georgia.
The International Republican Institute (IRI) has released the results of a nationwide poll which revealed that 75 per cent of Georgians are very likely to vote in the upcoming municipal elections. 25 per cent of the voters who are not likely to participate in the local elections say that they ‘do not have confidence in the electoral process.’
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated at the nomination ceremony for a mayoral candidate in Marneuli municipality of eastern Georgia that only the ruling Georgian Dream party will be able to maintain peace and stability in the country. PM Garibashvili underscored that many problems remain unresolved such as lack of water and gas supply, paving roads and cultivation of agricultural lands in various Georgian villages, noting that ‘this should be our [the ruling party’s] main concern.’
The survey conducted by the research organisation in the Caucasus region Gorbi, commissioned by TV channel Imedi, has reported that 46.8 per cent of Georgians would vote for the ruling Georgian Dream party if the local municipal elections were held today.
Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) says that a clan of judges using the promotion system of judges to maintain its power over the court.