Judicial limits and recount removals
Six MPs submitted a bill to parliament on 28 October to amend Georgia’s electoral and local self-government codes. This legislation follows the disputed 2024 parliamentary elections where opposition parties and President Salome Zourabichvili rejected the Georgian Dream victory, alleging widespread electoral fraud. International observers also raised concerns about voter intimidation, vote secrecy, and an uneven playing field. I see these changes as a calculated effort to weaken oversight. The bill permits challenges to the Central Election Commission (CEC) final results protocol only to correct "technical or mechanical errors" like incorrect polling station figures or inaccurate court ruling data. Such restrictions prevent courts from considering complaints about systemic violations that only appear when assessing the whole electoral process. The ruling party argues that 14 days suffices to handle electoral disputes and that electronic voting makes mandatory random recounts unnecessary. However, the bill also abolishes the current requirement for each district election commission to randomly select five polling stations for a recount, which currently must happen no later than the sixth day after election day.
The bill also changes how the CEC compiles results by directly aggregating them based on polling station protocols and court rulings. The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), and Transparency International Georgia argue that these changes would weaken existing safeguards and further centralise election administration by removing oversight from other commission members. The three organisations also say that disputes concerning individual polling stations cannot replace a full judicial review of the final election results. The ruling party argues that transferring results directly to the Central Election Commission (CEC) would make the process more efficient. The bill also reduces the deadline for electoral subjects that receive the required number of votes to submit campaign finance reports from 12 days to five days after election day. If the State Audit Office considers a violation substantial and believes it could have affected the election results, it may recommend the CEC apply to court to have results compiled without those specific votes.
Observer control and advertising restrictions
The proposed amendments transfer the authority to register or refuse local and international observer organisations to the chair of the relevant election commission rather than the collective commission. This concentration of power in one person increases the risk of subjective or politically motivated decisions and removes oversight from commission members appointed by political parties. The bill also shortens the deadline for political parties and media outlets to appoint personnel and for observer organisations to submit new observers for a second round by two days.
| Rule Change | Current Rule | Proposed Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign finance report deadline | 12 days after election | 5 days after election |
| Observer registration deadline | 5 days before run-off | 3 days before run-off |
The amendments remove the provision that allows broadcasters and newspapers to redistribute unused free election advertising time or space equally among other electoral subjects. This provision previously allowed parties that lacked state funding to access airtime. In 2021, amendments by Georgian Dream restricted access to free political advertising for groups that did not receive state funding, including Unity, National Movement, Coalition for Change, and Strong Georgia. I find the removal of the redistribution mechanism a way to widen the gap between the ruling party and opposition groups because unused advertising time would simply be lost.
