To the Chairman of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara,

Mr. Archil Habadze

1 February, 2013

Mr. Archil,

On January 29, 2013 Adjara’s Supreme Council adopted a legislative amendment that contains new regulations governing the composition of the Supreme Electoral Commission.

On 26 December 2012, after it became known that the Supreme Council of the Adjara Autonomous Republic was considering a change to the rules of the SEC composition, we, NGOs, made a special appealed to the Supreme Council clearly stating our position that entering changes to the rules of the SEC composition in an accelerated manner and beyond the electoral reform was unacceptable.

Despite the resistance of the non-governmental sector, the change to the rules for staffing the Supreme Election Commission did take place beyond the electoral reform and out of context, which we perceive as an attempt to exert political influence on the Electoral Administration. 

It is unclear what necessitated the change to the rules for the Supreme Electoral Commission composition undertaken by the Supreme Council so hastily and, in fact, without regard to the opinion expressed by the civil society in the circumstances when the Georgian Parliament as well as local and international organizations are actively discussing the electoral reform in an extended format.

We believe that improving the electoral system, including the SEC reform, should constitute a part of the overall electoral reform. We, therefore, urge You to use the right granted to you by the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara and return the draft law submitted to you for approval to the Supreme Council for further examination supplying it with motivated comments.  

Therewith, we present the legal opinion prepared by our organizations concerning the issues that accompanied the consideration and adoption of the draft law.

Nino Lomjaria

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)

Kakha Kozhoridze

The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association

Eka Gigauri

Transparency International Georgia