Almost all recommendations of the Venice Commission are reflected in the electoral reform, said MP Salome Samadashvili, a member of Lelo Faction in the Georgian parliament.

According to Samadashvili, based on the draft-bill, election administration staffing principle will change that will increase public trust toward elections.

“Improvement of the election environment in the country will benefit the country to restore trust of the public towards elections. If we fail to achieve that during the local or any other elections, we will face nihilism. The public will lose the faith that participation in the elections makes sense,” Samadashvili claimed.

According to the amendments to the Electoral Code, the number of Central Election Commission (CEC) members will increase to up to no more than 17 members. The change also concerns the number of deputy chairpersons, the CEC will have two deputies instead of one.

Based on the draft law, 7 members of the CEC shall be elected by the Parliament of Georgia on the basis of the recommendation of the President of Georgia, and no more than 9 members of the CEC shall be appointed by the political parties.

The Electoral Code was agreed by the opposition and the ruling team on May 21. The electoral reform was submitted to the Venice Commission, an Advisory Board of the Council of Europe on May 20.