Written declaration No. 613 | Doc. 14111 | 24 June 2016

The pre-election environment in Georgia

Signatories: Mr Ertuğrul KÜRKÇÜ, Turkey, UEL ; Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany, UEL ; Mr Carles JORDANA, Andorra, ALDE ; Ms Filiz KERESTECİOĞLU DEMİR, Turkey, UEL ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Florian KRONBICHLER, Italy, SOC ; Mr Talip KÜÇÜKCAN, Turkey, EC ; Mr Dirk Van der MAELEN, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Meritxell MATEU, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Andrei NEGUTA, Republic of Moldova, SOC ; Mr Suat ÖNAL, Turkey, EC ; Mr Hişyar ÖZSOY, Turkey, UEL ; Ms Judith PALLARÉS, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Georgios PSYCHOGIOS, Greece, UEL ; Mr Frédéric REISS, France, EPP/CD ; Mr António Filipe RODRIGUES, Portugal, UEL ; Mr René ROUQUET, France, SOC ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Mr Senad ŠEPIĆ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, EPP/CD ; Mr Damien THIÉRY, Belgium, ALDE

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

We strongly support Georgia’s commitment for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. At the same time we see a need for more political and legal reforms, which among other recommendations were especially recommended by the Parliamentary Assembly in Resolution 2015 (2014) which “urges all political forces to agree on an election system that can count on a broad consensus and that strengthens the pluralistic nature of the country’s political institutions” and “invites all stakeholders to consider the proportional–regional election system, based on open lists, which seems to have the agreement of most, if not all, political forces in the country”.

Unfortunately, neither developments in this regard, nor amendments regarding electoral legislation until now: registration of voters, rules of formation of electoral administration, campaign rules, registration of parties electoral numbers and other important matters have been initiated until now.

Therefore, we are concerned about the political polarisation before the October 2016 elections and call on the Georgian authorities for a dialogue with opposition parties to find a compromise about the electoral legislation.