New Election Law Changes Advance in Parliament
By Messenger Staff
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
The Georgian Dream parliament moved forward with several changes to the country's Election Code on Monday. The Parliament's Legal Issues Committee approved the amendments in a first reading, introducing new requirements for international observers and recording rules during official sessions.
Under the proposed rules, the Central Election Commission (CEC) will gain the power to decide how people can record meetings. The draft law states that "the rules for photo, video, and audio recording of a person at the election commission's session will be determined by decree of the Central Election Commission." The law as it stands now does not give the CEC this specific authority.
The changes also focus on who can be considered an international observer. The new text requires these observers to be foreign citizens at least 18 years old. Currently, the law does not mention citizenship requirements for these roles.
Interpreters working with these observers will also face new rules. They will have to go through a special registration process with the CEC secretary and submit copies of their ID cards. Once processed, the secretary will issue a certificate that functions as an official badge. This is a new step that does not exist in the current legal framework.
Local monitors have expressed confusion over the necessity of these updates. Levan Natroshvili, director of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, noted that allowing Georgian citizens to join international monitoring teams "has never been problematic" in the past.
"The move to prevent this and the timing of the changes is incomprehensible," Natroshvili said. He pointed out that national elections are not scheduled until 2028, adding that "questions remain about why the change was needed now."
These developments come shortly after a major rewrite of election laws in December 2025. During that period, the parliament passed measures that ended voting rights for Georgian citizens living in other countries.
