PM alleges President involved in campaign to “discredit” Election Commission with veto

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Tuesday claimed President Salome Zourabichvili was engaged in a “campaign” aimed at “discrediting” the country’s election administration, after Zourabichvili vetoed amendments to regulations on elections of the Chair and members of the Central Election Commission.

Approved by the Parliament, the changes stipulated transfer of the power to elect the Chair and members of the Central Election Commission to the President if the legislative body failed to elect them in two attempts.

Zourabichvili’s office explained her veto of the proposal by saying the changes failed to substantially increase the President’s role in selection of CEC staff, as qualifications for transferring the selection to the office outlined Parliament vote thresholds “unlikely” to be failed.

In his response, Kobakhidze said the veto would “not create a problem for the stable development of electoral processes” in the country ahead of the parliamentary elections in October.

Of course, the veto will be overridden - this decision has been taken by the parliamentary majority. Accordingly, everything will be done so that the CEC can conduct elections effectively. Salome Zourabichvili has exactly the opposite goal”, he said.

The Government head stressed the Commission had “proven”, including at the 2021 local elections, that it could conduct elections “properly”.

He also said if the domestic “radical opposition and their friends” did not trust the Commission, it was “their problem and not an issue of the election administration”.