In response to the Venice Commission’s opinion on amendments to Georgia’s electoral code, the ruling Georgian Dream party criticized the findings, citing a lack of legal arguments. The opposition, in turn, expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s efforts and criticized it for failing to embrace European values. Following this exchange, the Central Election Commission (CEC) issued a statement denying the opposition’s allegations.
CEC Statement
The Central Election Commission issued a statement saying that after the Venice Commission published its opinion on the electoral reform, “another discrediting campaign against the election administration has started”. The CEC points out that the representatives of various political parties are using the conclusions of the Venice Commission “for another attack against the election administration” and “are interpreting the conclusions of the Commission in their own way”.
“The discussion on the legitimacy of the electoral administration started again, while there is no mention of similar content in the VC conclusion. At the same time, they [opposition] don’t talk about the important issue mentioned in the conclusion, such as the need for clear criteria for dismissal of the members of the election administration appointed by the parties, which should ensure their real independence and impartiality” reads the statement.
CEC notes that all professional members of the administration, including the Chairman, exercise their powers in accordance with the law and “the most important process of modernization of elections is successfully underway”, adding that the election administration is doing everything to conduct elections in the country in accordance with international standards, to successfully implement electronic voting technologies in this process.
“Once again we would like to remind the political entities, other parties involved in the election process, to evaluate the activity of the election administration only on the basis of the actions taken by it, and not to damage the election process due to their political agenda, because the elections are a common endeavor and the successful implementation of the election process is a shared interest,” the statement concludes.
Ruling Party Reactions on VC Opinion
According to Givi Mikanadze, Georgian Dream MP: “The Venice Commission says without any legal arguments that we should return to the situation regarding the election of the election administration, as stated in the April 19 agreement. We have a lot of questions about this conclusion, because we explained the process in detail and with arguments. We explained to them in detail why we made the decision to transfer the selection process of the election administration representatives from the President to the Parliament. … A new electoral system is being introduced, which provides for voting by electronic devices, and for this reason the CEC must have a proper administration.”
According to Rati Ionatamishvili, Georgian Dream MP: “We have received such recommendations where the legal analysis has not really been carried out. There are political contexts and the content, which are already in the past, and relying on it today does not ensure progress, development and a vision for the future”.
Mikheil Sarjveladze, “Georgian Dream”, MP said: “The practice has shown that a deadlock emerged due to the rules that we had… The legal framework that existed before the amendments could not ensure the creation of adequate guarantees, including for the activities of the Central Election Commission. I think that these amendments are the amendments that we can rely on with this approach.”
Opposition Reactions
Following the Venice Commission’s opinion, Levan Khabeishvili, the Chairman of the United National Movement, said: “The Venice Commission has dealt another blow to the Russian party and directly said that the Chairman of the CEC who is present today should resign, he/she should be nominated by the President, should be elected with high legitimacy, and… not to be appointed by the Russian party. This was written in black and white by the Venice Commission”.
According to Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of “Strategy Aghmashenebeli”: “Even the conclusion of the Venice Commission shows that “Georgian Dream” does not want the European Union, it does not want the candidate status. That’s why it conducts such bogus reforms”.
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