New rules approved for election of Central Election Commission head, members
The Georgian NGOs were against the approval of the new rules by the state legislature. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
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The Georgian parliament approved new rules for the election of the head of the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) and its members earlier today despite the calls of NGOs not to support the ‘simplified procedures.’
Eighty-two MPs supported the changes proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party in its third and final reading in the 150-member state legislature.
According to the new rules, the CEC chair and members can be elected immediately with a simple majority (at least 76 MPs in the 150-member parliament) if the first vote, which requires the support of ⅔ of 150-MPs, fails.
The proposed change in the rules for electing the @cecgovge Chairperson and professional members is another violation of the #April19Agreement initiated by @eucopresident. Read more: https://t.co/iHXd2euJOS #Gvote #Elections #Georgia
— ISFED (@isfed_official) December 14, 2021
The previous procedures which were adopted following the April 2021 EU-mediated agreement, stated that the CEC chair and members must have been elected with a ⅔ supermajority of parliament.
If the vote was unsuccessful, another vote must have been held with the same threshold in no earlier than four weeks.
If MPs failed again to elect the candidates, subsequent votes must first required a ⅗ majority and then a simple majority, to be held within the same timeframe.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) said earlier this week that if the new rules were elaborated, it would benefit the interests of the ruling Georgian Dream party.