Parliament Amends Election Code

According to the amendments in the election code approved by the Parliament today, the President of Georgia appoints the Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) with approval of the Parliament.

Amendments also endorsed voter marking throughout Georgia, while during the November 2 parliamentary elections the voter marking procedure was introduced only in the larger constituencies.

The MPs also extended the deadline for candidates to enter the presidential election scheduled for January 4 up to December 5.

One of the amendments deprives CEC of the right to publish final protocol of vote tally if the court is considering a lawsuit on violations.

The interim leadership, which led the street protest, that forced Shevardnadze to step down, sought for the new election code in order to reshuffle the current Central Election Commission (CEC), which was composed mainly by Shevardnadze’s government supporters.

However no agreement has been reached by the political parties regarding the rule of composition of the new CEC.