Parliament proposes overhaul to election rules
Thursday, November 15
By Eter Tsotniashvili and Nino Mumladze
Georgia’s parliament hastily assembled committee hearings on Wednesday to discuss a package of amendments, put forward just one day before, to the country’s constitution and electoral code.
The proposed electoral code changes would put party representatives on election commissions and redraw the majoritarian system by which some lawmakers are elected. A constitutional amendment, as proposed by President Mikheil Saakashvili in mid-October, would decrease the vote threshold for parliamentary representation from seven to five percent.
While all of those considerations have, at one time or another, been touted by the opposition as key to holding free and fair elections, opposition politicians are split on whether the proposed fixes are enough.
New Rights MP Mamuka Katsitadze was optimistic Wednesday, suggesting that the proposed changes are a swift stride in the right direction.
“The list of problematic issues has been drawn up… [Now] we have all the preconditions in place making the new election code…ready to be put into law [as soon as] next week,” Katsitadze told the state-owned television broadcaster.
The New Rights is one of the few prominent opposition factions not in the current nine-party opposition coalition.
Coalition member and Republican MP Zurab Marakvelidze, however, says the ruling party is not offering nearly enough.
“There are minor agreements, but a lot of the changes actually worsen the already useless election code. As the government’s proposed amendments stand, in every level of the [election] commissions the government holds a majority. That is, the parity principle is done away with,” Marakvelidze was quoted as saying.
There are three levels of election committees: central, district and precinct.
The proposed amendments would allow the government to appoint five members plus the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
On top of the government appointees, each political party eligible for state funding would get one member on the CEC. Currently, seven parties would qualify: the ruling National Movement, and the oppositional New Rights, Industrialists, Labor Party, Freedom Party, Republicans and Conservatives.
That would give the government seven appointees to the opposition’s six on the CEC, which is in theory a board of impartial election overseers.
The amendments would not alter the appointment process for district level election commissions. Currently, the CEC appoints all five nominally non-partisan members at the district level.
With the government retaining a majority of the seats on the CEC and therefore power of appointment for district level commissions, Marakvelidze said, the rule is unfair to the opposition.
Precinct level election commissions, meanwhile, would have their numbers cut from the current 2000 to 1500.
District level commissions will appoint four members to each precinct commission, and the top three political parties in the previous parliamentary elections will get three representatives each.
That adds up to four state appointees plus three from the National Movement, versus six opposition appointees.
Another possible constitutional amendment would redesign the majoritarian voting system through which regional representatives are elected to parliament.
The next parliament, which will be downsized to 150 seats as previous constitutional amendments come into force, will include 50 majoritarian MPs. Under that arrangement, the party with the plurality of votes in each district will get all of the district’s majoritarian seats.
Majority MP Paliko Kublashvili, a co-author of the proposed changes, suggested the architects of the new election code would do away with the majoritarian concept entirely.
“...We’ve decided to propose a variant of the regional representation principle, instead of the majoritarian system, so that each region gets representation based on its population,” he told the state-owned broadcaster. He declined to offer any further details, leaving open the question of how the seats would be apportioned to contesting parties. Parliament needs more time to consider the issue, he said.
The proposed electoral code changes would put party representatives on election commissions and redraw the majoritarian system by which some lawmakers are elected. A constitutional amendment, as proposed by President Mikheil Saakashvili in mid-October, would decrease the vote threshold for parliamentary representation from seven to five percent.
While all of those considerations have, at one time or another, been touted by the opposition as key to holding free and fair elections, opposition politicians are split on whether the proposed fixes are enough.
New Rights MP Mamuka Katsitadze was optimistic Wednesday, suggesting that the proposed changes are a swift stride in the right direction.
“The list of problematic issues has been drawn up… [Now] we have all the preconditions in place making the new election code…ready to be put into law [as soon as] next week,” Katsitadze told the state-owned television broadcaster.
The New Rights is one of the few prominent opposition factions not in the current nine-party opposition coalition.
Coalition member and Republican MP Zurab Marakvelidze, however, says the ruling party is not offering nearly enough.
“There are minor agreements, but a lot of the changes actually worsen the already useless election code. As the government’s proposed amendments stand, in every level of the [election] commissions the government holds a majority. That is, the parity principle is done away with,” Marakvelidze was quoted as saying.
There are three levels of election committees: central, district and precinct.
The proposed amendments would allow the government to appoint five members plus the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
On top of the government appointees, each political party eligible for state funding would get one member on the CEC. Currently, seven parties would qualify: the ruling National Movement, and the oppositional New Rights, Industrialists, Labor Party, Freedom Party, Republicans and Conservatives.
That would give the government seven appointees to the opposition’s six on the CEC, which is in theory a board of impartial election overseers.
The amendments would not alter the appointment process for district level election commissions. Currently, the CEC appoints all five nominally non-partisan members at the district level.
With the government retaining a majority of the seats on the CEC and therefore power of appointment for district level commissions, Marakvelidze said, the rule is unfair to the opposition.
Precinct level election commissions, meanwhile, would have their numbers cut from the current 2000 to 1500.
District level commissions will appoint four members to each precinct commission, and the top three political parties in the previous parliamentary elections will get three representatives each.
That adds up to four state appointees plus three from the National Movement, versus six opposition appointees.
Another possible constitutional amendment would redesign the majoritarian voting system through which regional representatives are elected to parliament.
The next parliament, which will be downsized to 150 seats as previous constitutional amendments come into force, will include 50 majoritarian MPs. Under that arrangement, the party with the plurality of votes in each district will get all of the district’s majoritarian seats.
Majority MP Paliko Kublashvili, a co-author of the proposed changes, suggested the architects of the new election code would do away with the majoritarian concept entirely.
“...We’ve decided to propose a variant of the regional representation principle, instead of the majoritarian system, so that each region gets representation based on its population,” he told the state-owned broadcaster. He declined to offer any further details, leaving open the question of how the seats would be apportioned to contesting parties. Parliament needs more time to consider the issue, he said.