President vetoes bill on electing central election commission chair

Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili on Tuesday vetoed the ruling Georgian Dream party-proposed bill on the election of the country’s central election commission head, pointing threats to the body’s impartiality. 

 

The bill gives the power to the parliament speaker instead of the president to announce a competition for the selection of the CEC charpersion and then present the selected nominees to the legislative body for the vote.

 

The amendments also allow the parliament to elect the new chairperson and the CEC members with a simple majority of 76 votes, instead of 100 in the 150-member state legislature.  The president proposed the parliament to elect the CEC chair and members with 90 votes, which she said would ensure a consensus-based decision between the ruling party and the opposition. 

 

Domestic non-governmental organisations say if finally approved by overriding the veto, the bill would further reduce the independence of the election administration, increase the influence of the ruling party on it and “extremely reduce” the role of the president in the process of selecting candidates.