Georgian Public Defender applies to OSCE/ODIHR for opinion on annulment of gender quotas in electoral lists
In his statement, Ioseliani “negatively evaluated” the abolition of gender quotas and called on the Parliament “not to proceed with the draft law until the reports” of the Venice Commission, which was addressed by the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the OSCE/ODIHR “are published and to ensure compliance of each decision with human rights standards”. Photo via Public Defender's Office
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Georgian Public Defender Levan Ioseliani on Tuesday applied to the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights for an opinion on the Georgian Parliament’s decision to annul gender quotas in the process of forming electoral lists.
The legislative body earlier this month approved with its third reading an initiative by the Girchi party, by which political parties will no longer be required to draw up their electoral lists according to the gender quota requirements.
In his statement, Ioseliani “negatively evaluated” the abolition of gender quotas and called on the Parliament “not to proceed with the draft law until the reports” of the Venice Commission, which was addressed by the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the OSCE/ODIHR “are published and to ensure compliance of each decision with human rights standards”.
The draft law was vetoed by Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on April 17, returning it to the legislative body with motivated remarks.
The Georgian Parliament on Thursday approved with its third reading an initiative by the Girchi party on the annulment of gender quotas in the process of forming electoral lists.
The United Nations in Georgia, the European Union Delegation to the country, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and 25 embassies operating in the country on Friday released a joint statement on International Women’s Day to reaffirm commitment to achieving gender equality and empowerment for “all women and girls”.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday said he had signed into law amendments to the Election Code regulations concerning elections of members and the Chair of the Central Election Administration.
The ongoing work for public information campaigns for this year's parliamentary elections in Georgia was discussed in a meeting between Giorgi Kalandarishvili, the Chair of the Central Election Commission, and representatives of international organisations and diplomatic missions in the country.