The change in the rule of recognizing the authority of the Sakrebulo’s majoritarian member, who won in by-elections has been designed to solve the political impasse created in the Batumi Municipality Sakrebulo in favor of the Georgian Dream party
Legislative amendments to the Local Self-Government Code and the Election Code of Georgia have been initiated by the ruling party MPs in the Parliament of Georgia. According to them, the rule of recognizing the authority of a majoritarian Sakrebulo member who won the by-elections is changed exclusively. In particular, the authority of a majoritarian member of the Sakrebulo who won in by-elections will be recognized not based on a recognition of Municipality Sakrebulo, but on the basis of the relevant summary protocol published on the CEC website.
According to the current legislation, the municipality Sakrebulo is entitled to recognize the authority of a Sakrebulo member and early terminate his / her term of office[1].
Article 2 of the draft law on amendments to the Election Code of Georgia is particularly problematic. It aims to extend the change to an already existing legal relationship and is an attempt to retroactively extend the law for political purposes, which is contrary to the principles of the rule of law and the rule of law.
ISFED believes that this legislative initiative is driven by political interests and only serves to resolve the political impasse created by the distribution of political forces in the Batumi Municipality Sakrebulo in favor of the Georgian Dream by using legislative resources.
The fact is that after the by-elections of Batumi Sakrebulo, held due to the death of the majoritarian MP of the UNM party, the Georgian Dream scheduled a Sakrebulo session on 12th of April. It was planned to announce the authority of Ramaz Jincharadze, a newly elected MP from the Georgian Dream, at the sitting, but the sitting could not be held due to the lack of a quorum. To date, the Georgian Dream does not have a majority in the Batumi Sakrebulo, until Jincharadze’s authority is announced. Amid the boycott of the opposition parties, due to lack of a quorum, it is not possible to hold a session and recognize Jincharadze’s authority[2].
The proposed legislative initiative should be assessed as gross interference of the Parliament of Georgia in the activities of a representative body of a municipality for political purposes. It opposes the idea of an effective self-government, creation of consensus-based politics at the local level, and the establishment of a pluralistic democracy.
We call on the ruling party, instead of legislative intervention, to make efforts to defuse the political crisis and act in the interests of the democratic process.
[1] The Code of Local Self-Government of the Organic Law of Georgia, article 24, part 1, Subparagraph “BG”. The Rules of Procedure of the Batumi Sakrebulo, Article 4, Sub-paragraph 3.
[2] ISFED Assessment of the developments after the Batumi Sakrebulo by-elections: April 18, 2022. https://isfed.ge/geo/blogi/batumis-sakrebulo-shualeduri-archevnebis-shemdeg-problema-da-perspeqtiva-