Ruling party head claims President, opposition “hampering” composition of Election Commission as new electoral bill proposed
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, noted 91 percent of voters in the 2024 Parliamentary elections would vote using an electronic system. Photo: Georgian Dream press office
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Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday accused President Salome Zourabichvili and a part of the domestic opposition of “hampering” the process of composition of the country’s Central Election Commission, following the party’s announcement about a new electoral bill on election of the Commission Chair in the Parliament.
The ruling party on Wednesday initiated a bill involving election of the Chair and members of the body with 90 votes in the 150-member Parliament. The move comes following the President’s decision in June to veto a bill proposed by GD that outlined 76 - instead of 100 - votes as a prerequisite for election of Commission officials.
The Parliament in July refused to back the President’s proposal to elect officials in the body with at least 90 votes, which she had claimed would allow a “consensus-based decision between parties”, and overrode the veto.
Givi Mikanadze, a ruling party MP, on Wednesday said the new bill involved election of the CEC Chair and its members with 90 votes in the initial vote, lowering the threshold to 76 in the second voting if the required number was not reached in the initial vote.
The bill also allows the third vote if candidates are unable to receive enough votes in the second attempt either, with approval requiring 76 votes again.
Mikanadze said if candidates failed to acquire enough votes in all the three runs, the President would be granted the right to decide on their appointment.
The party claimed the amendments were “in full compliance” with the European Union conditions outlined in June 2022 for granting Georgia its membership candidate status, with the European Council scheduled to decide on the status later this year.
In his comments for Imedi TV following the bill, Kobakhidze praised the candidates presented for the positions of the CEC Chair and members, who are working as acting representatives of the body, and claimed “no question marks” had been presented over their activities or professionalism.
He claimed the “radical wing” of the domestic opposition was “trying to use any opportunity” to “hamper the electoral process” by “creating obstacles” for the composition of the CEC to be completed.
He also noted 91 percent of voters in the 2024 Parliamentary elections would vote using an electronic system, which he said was introduced to “eliminate all chances of manipulations”.
Givi Mikanadze, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the introduction of electronic voter registration and voting in the country starting with the 2024 parliamentary elections was a “qualitatively new electoral system” of a “top standard”, in comments to critical reactions to the initiative by a part of the domestic opposition.
Aleksandre Rakviashvili, an MP from the Girchi opposition party, on Tuesday welcomed the ruling Georgian Dream party’s announcement on introducing electronic voter registration and voting starting with the 2024 Parliamentary elections in the country, calling the move a “step forward” for ensuring a fairer electoral environment.
The Georgian parliament has failed to elect a new chairperson and members of the Central Election Commission (CEC) for the third time, following the resignation of the CEC’s head Tamar Zhvania on June 30. Zhvania’s resignation was demanded by the opposition following the 2020 parliamentary elections, of which they accused her of helping the ruling Georgian Dream party to fabricate. Further changes came to the country’s electoral system on June 28 thanks to the EU-mediated agreement, which put an end to the political standoff in Georgia caused by the parliamentary elections of October 31.
The Georgian parliament has adopted electoral amendments earlier today with its third and final reading which were initially proposed back in March 2021 by the ruling Georgian Dream party and Citizens opposition and later were revised in line with the April 19 EU-mediated agreement.
Khatuna Samnidze, an opposition MP and the Chair of the Republican Party, on Tuesday said that “specific representatives” of the opposition were “hindering” the process of granting Georgia the European Union membership candidate status.
Khatuna Samnidze, an opposition MP and the Chair of the Republican Party, on Wednesday said unspecified political figures from the domestic opposition advising Georgia’s European partners behind closed doors to grant the EU membership candidate status to the country only after the 2024 Parliamentary Elections were “undermining” the opposition’s message that the country “needs the status”.
Lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party on Wednesday urged Khatuna Samnidze, the head of the Republican Party in the Parliament, to name domestic opposition representatives she accused on Tuesday of taking actions to “hamper” Tbilisi’s obtaining of the European Union membership candidate status in December.