Georgian President vetoes amendments to election code, signs changes to anti-corruption law

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Thursday vetoed amendments to the domestic election code that had been approved by the Parliament while signing off changes to the Anti-Corruption law.

The legislative changes to the election regulations proposes reducing the two thirds quorum necessary for making decisions of the Central Election Commission to a majority of the full composition.

The Presidential Administration said the changes would “remove the need for consensus between parties” and grant the ruling Georgian Dream party the opportunity to make decisions “practically on a single-party basis”.

Zourabichvili signed a package of amendments to the anti-corruption law, approved by the Parliament in May, but added they were “surface-level and fragmented”, could not meet “concrete requirements” outlined by the European Commission last year and did not promote effectiveness of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, its institutional strengthening, independence and impartiality.

The President's office said the goals of increasing the independence of the  Bureau and ensuring a systemic reform of the CEC code would be served by a charter proposed by Zourabichvili and signed by the  domestic opposition earlier this month.