Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Thursday vetoed the changes to the Election Code, which lower the 2/3 quorum requirement for CEC decisions to the majority of the whole composition.

According to the President’s Office, the amendments “eliminate the requirement for consensus amongst parties, allowing the ruling party to make one-party decisions.”

The President signed a package of amendments to the Anti-Corruption Law, however, according to her Office, “Zourabichvili believes that the presented changes are facade and fragmented.”

“And fails to meet the European Commission’s requirements, one of the nine conditions for joining the European Union and opening negotiations, which provides for the further promotion of the effectiveness of the anti-corruption bureau and the strengthening of its institutional independence and impartiality.

The Georgian Charter proposes fundamental reforms to strengthen the anti-corruption bureau’s independence, such as granting investigative powers and choosing its head by parliament.

As of today, the Prime Minister appoints the head of the bureau, and the bureau is given the authority to carry out several measures of special administrative proceedings related to election subjects, including the questioning of a natural person, questioning before a magistrate judge; requesting personal information, including special category personal data, which requires even more justification, so that the law does not apply selectively and the bureau does not become a punitive tool against the parties in the hands of the government”, reads the statement.