Ruling party-proposed group to revise election code for Georgia’s EU candidacy holds first meeting
Ruling Georgian Dream party MP Givi Mikanadze was elected to chair the Parliament’s working group on electoral questions. Photo: Parliament of Georgia press office
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The working group proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party in the Parliament and tasked with revising domestic electoral laws in line with the European Commission conditions for the country’s EU membership candidacy held its first meeting on Thursday.
GD MP Givi Mikanadze, elected as the Chair of the group, said the meeting had involved opposition MPs and representatives of non-governmental organisations.
In comments on reports that the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy - a domestic watchdog working on electoral topics - had not been invited to the group, Mikanadze claimed the organisation was “politically biased”, noting it had demanded dismissal of the Government and the Prime Minister during opposition rallies in June in Tbilisi.
Only neutral non-governmental organisations are welcome to the group work”, Mikanadze said, noting that unlike ISFED, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association had been asked to participate.
In comments about schedules for the group, Mikanadze said the next meeting would be held on August 25, with members allowed to submit electoral proposals.
Following this, a package of specific amendments will be drafted”, Mikanadze said, adding the package would also reflect recommendations of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, as well as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. He added the resulting package would be initiated no later than September 21.
The working group is composed of four GD MPs, three opposition lawmakers, one independent member of the Parliament as well as civil sector representatives.
The European Council granted Georgia the European perspective in June, providing over six months for the country to address several issues, including in the country’s judiciary and electoral systems, in order to receive the EU membership candidate status next year.
Georgian Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee will create five working groups today to address the conditions outlined by the European Union for granting the country membership candidate status, with the issues of deoligarchisation, judicial reform, electoral code and creation of an anti-corruption agency, a special investigative service and a personal data protection service in particular focus, the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) said.
Ruling Georgian Dream party MP Rati Ionatamishvili on Tuesday said it was “important” that the process of implementing the action plan for the 12-point conditions outlined by the European Union for granting Georgia the membership candidate status continued “proactively”.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the domestic opposition was “doing everything” to prevent the country from receiving the European Union membership candidate status as it believed the outcome would boost the Government’s position.
The ruling Georgian Dream party on Friday presented its strategy for fulfilling the 12-point conditions outlined by the European Council for granting the country the European Union membership candidate status later this year.
Givi Mikanadze, an MP for the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday said it was “difficult to talk about" national consensus when leaders of the domestic "radical opposition" were announcing rallies and "trying to radicalise the political environment" in the country.
Electoral amendments necessary for obtaining the European Union membership candidate status for Georgia will be proposed in September by the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee, with the bill drafted in line with recommendations of the Parliamentary working group set up earlier this month to address electoral issues, ruling Georgian Dream party MP Givi Mikanadze said on Thursday.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Wednesday addressed citizens in countries of the Western Balkans as well as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia by telling them “you are part of our family, your future is in our Union, and our Union is not complete without you”.
The ruling Georgian Dream party on Wednesday initiated a bill proposing the creation of an anti-corruption bureau, as part of efforts to fulfil the European Union’s conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status.
The head of Georgia’s special state protection service will participate in the work of the country’s national security council as a permanent member.
The Georgian office of the Transparency International anti-corruption watchdog on Tuesday called on the ruling Georgian Dream party to amend its recently proposed bill on establishing the national anti-corruption bureau, saying the document “does not correspond” to the European Union’s conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status.
Pawel Herczynski, the ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, on Tuesday said “constructive” involvement of the country’s opposition parties, along with the government, was “critically important” for the fulfillment of the 12-point conditions set by the bloc to grant the country its membership candidate status.
The evaluations of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe on electoral amendments implemented by Georgian authorities with the goal of gaining the European Union membership candidate status are “clearly positive”, Givi Mikanadze, a ruling Georgian Dream party MP, said on Monday.