Unjustified changes to be made to the SEC staffing rules
On March 1, 2016, draft of law on amendments to the Law of Georgia on Election of the Supreme Council of Adjara A/R was presented to the Supreme Council of Adjara Autonomous Republic. The draft introduces changes in rules for staffing the Supreme Election Commission of Ajara A/R (the SEC) and affects paragraphs 13 and 14 of Article 14 the law on Election of the Supreme Council of Adjara A/R. According to proposed new regulations, election of the SEC chair and its members will require majority of votes of members present, as opposed to majority of votes of all members of the Council, but no less than one third of all members.
The draft proposes a very low quorum for election of the SEC chair and its members, which essentially rules out high degree of legitimacy of the SEC chair and its members. The draft has been initiated in connection to the process of election of the SEC chair, which has been brought to a deadlock as a result of the Supreme Council and the Government Chair disregarding procedural requirements of the law.
Notably, the ruling party has majority in the Supreme Council and the above decisions rule out participation of the opposition in the decision-making process, which raises a valid suspicion about the initiative being tailored to a concrete political interest and candidate, especially considering that the draft law does not eliminate deficiencies in the process of election of the SEC chair and its members, and is not directed towards ensuring transparency and consistency of the process.
ISFED urges the Supreme Council of Ajara A/R not to approve the draft law because implementation of the proposed changes would be a step backwards and will greatly damage reputation of the SEC as an independent, objective and credible electoral management body.