Presidential Election Law of Georgia

 

 

CHAPTER I      GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

Article 1. Election of the President of Georgia

The election of the President of Georgia shall be held on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage with secret vote. The President shall be elected for the term of 5 years. No one shall be elected for more than two successive terms.

 

Article 2. Legislation of Georgia Regulating the Presidential Election

The presidential election shall be organized and held on the basis of the constitution of Georgia, this law and other legislative acts of Georgia.

 

Article 3. Universal Suffrage

1.     Each citizen of Georgia who has attained the age of 18 years, regardless of origin, social and property status, race national affiliation, sex, education, language political though, religious belief and occupation has the right to participate in the presidential election. 

2.     No mentally ill citizen, judged by the court to be incapable, and no person who is committed to a penitentiary establishment by the sentence of court has the right to vote.

3.     A person who during the last two years did not live in Georgia and wasn’t registered in any country by the Consulate of Georgia, shall not be a candidate for the Presidency of Georgia.

 

Article 4. Equal Suffrage

The election of the president of Georgia shall be equal. Each citizen of Georgia has one vote. All citizens of Georgia have equal right to participate in the election.

 

Article 5. Direct Suffrage

The election of the president of Georgia shall be direct.  The President shall be elected directly by the voters.

 

Article 6. Secret Vote

The election of the president of Georgia shall be held by secret vote. Control over the expression of the voters shall not be permitted.

Article 7. Publicity during the Preparation and Holding of Presidential Election

1.     The electoral Commissions, governmental and public organizations of Georgia, which on the basis of this law are obliged to take part in the preparation and holding of election, shall operate openly and publicly.

2.     The right to attend the meetings of electoral Commissions and voting premises shall be granted to the representatives of parties registered by Central Electoral Commission, authorized persons of presidential candidates, accredited representatives, representatives of media, and on the day of elections, from the moment of sealing the boxes to the summing up of the elections results, to one representative of each presidential candidate. The latter shall inform the appropriate electoral Commissions about their intention no later than two days prior the election.  These representatives are not entitled to interfere with the activities of the election Commissions.

3.     The media shall cover the preparation and holding of the election thoroughly. The journalists shall have an unrestricted right to attend all meetings and procedures related with the election.

4.     During the presidential election all public measures related to the election with the elections shall be implemented without any restriction.

5.     The electoral campaign for the presidency shall be held on the basis of the Article 47 of the Law on the Elections of the Parliament of Georgia. The State Television and Radio of Georgia every day shall provide one hour of broadcast time free of charge.

         

Article 8. Holding of Presidential Election by the Electoral Commissions

The Central Electoral Commission of Georgia and the inferior electoral Commissions shall ensure the holding of the election.

         

Article 9. Electoral Districts and Precincts

The electoral districts and precincts for the presidential election shall be established according to the rule determined by the Law on the Elections of the Parliament of Georgia.

         

Article 10. Electoral Commissions

The system of electoral Commissions, their organization and powers shall be determined by the Law on the Elections of the Parliament of Georgia.

         

Article 11. List of Voters

The rules of compiling the lists of voters, the inclusion or non inclusion of citizens in those lists, incorrect inclusion, the omission, the submission of complaints caused by errors made in the lists, as well as of the exercise of the right to vote in case of change of the place of residence, shall be determined by the Law on the Elections of the Parliament of Georgia.

         

Article 12. Right to Nominate Presidential Candidates

The right to nominate presidential candidates shall be granted to political associations (hereinafter the “parties”) or initiative groups of citizens. The candidates shall be supported by the signatures of 50,000 voters.

         

Article 13. Financial and Material Support to the Presidential Election. Electoral Funds of the Presidential Candidates.

1.     Costs required for the preparation and holding of presidential elections shall be covered by the state. The financial means allotted from general centralized funds to be established by the central Electoral Commission on the basis of state funds, shall be distributed by the electoral Commissions. Within two months after the end of the election, the Parliament of Georgia shall approve the account of factual costs submitted by the Central Electoral Commission. The Central Electoral Commission shall determine the rules of distribution, use and accounting of election costs.

2.     The presidential candidates may establish electoral funds where they are entitled to use the money allocated by the state, their own financial means, and contributions of non-government owned enterprises, political and public associations registered in Georgia as well as of citizens of Georgia. All above sums shall be transferred to the bank accounts of the candidates to be opened according to the rule determined by the Central Electoral Commission. 

3.     The Central Electoral Commission no later than 45 days prior to the election shall establish the limits of contributions as well as the maximum amount of contributions to be granted to each presidential candidate.

4.     After the end of the election the remains available on the electoral account of the presidential candidates shall be transferred to the state budget of Georgia.

 

CHAPTER II            ORGANIZING AND HOLDING OF PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTIONS

Article 14. Appointing the Presidential Election

1.     The first round of presidential election shall be held on second Sunday of April of the fifth year from the previous election.

2.     In the event of the state emergency or war no election shall be held.

 

Article 15. Nomination of Presidential Candidates

1.     Each natural born citizen of Georgia who has attained the age of 35 years, who has lived in Georgia for at least for 15 years and who lives in Georgia at the time of the election has the right to be elected as president.

2.     Each party and initiative group has the right to nominate one candidate for presidency.

3.     To nominate the candidates, the parties and initiative groups, no later than 50 days prior to the election, shall submit the applications to the Central Election Commission of Georgia; after this they are entitled to collect the signatures of supporters. To the application there shall be attached a written declaration of a presidential candidate certifying that he or she agrees to stand for the presidential election. The application shall include the name, last name, date of birth, profession, office, places of residence and work, party membership and the duration of residence in Georgia of a person to be nominated as presidential candidate as well as the identity of authorized persons appointed by the party or the initiative group of voters. There shall be enclosed also a copy of the birth certificate. The application shall be signed by the leader of party or by all members of the initiative group.

4.     For the purpose of registering the presidential candidates, the authorized persons of parties and initiative groups, no later that 40 days prior to the election, shall submit to the Central Electoral Commission the list of supporters. Each list shall contain no less than 50,000 signatures of voters.

5.     The collection of signatures of supporters and their checking shall be carried out in accordance with the Law of Georgia on the Parliamentary Elections.

 

Article 16. Registration of Presidential Candidates

1.     The registration of the presidential candidates shall be carried out by the Central Electoral Commission no later than 30 days prior to the election.

2.     The presidential candidates, their accredited representatives and authorized persons have no right to be members of the electoral Commissions.

3.     The Central Electoral Commission, within 3 days after the registration, shall provide an appropriate certificate to the presidential candidate.

4.     The Central Electoral Commission, no later than 6 days from the moment of registration, shall announce through the media the fact of registering a presidential candidate with a reference to the name, last name, date of birth, profession, office, places of residence and work of the candidate.

5.     The refusal of the Central Electoral Commission on the registration of a presidential candidate may be appealed against to the Supreme Court of Georgia by the parties and the initiative groups within 3 days after the refusal has been received. The Supreme Court shall make a decision within 3 days after the submission of the appeal. The Court’s decision shall be final.

6.     A presidential candidate may withdraw from the election at any time and for this purpose shall present a written declaration to Central Electoral Commission.

 

Article 17. Guarantees for Presidential Candidates, their Authorized Persons and Accredited Representatives

1.     The presidential candidates from the moment of their registration by the Central Electoral Commission shall participate in the presidential election campaign on the basis of equality. They have equal rights to use the media and other means of mass media on the whole territory of Georgia.

2.     The presidential candidates, their accredited representatives and authorized persons, during the electoral campaign shall not be removed from their offices, dismissed, appointed to another position or assigned to another job without their consent.

3.     No criminal charges may be brought against the presidential candidates.  They shall not be detained, arrested or searched if there is no consent of the Central Electoral Commission to the notification of the procurator’s office, except in cases where they are found committing the crime, about which the Central Electoral Commission shall immediately be notified. If the Central Electoral Commission does not agree with the detention or arrest of the candidate, the latter shall immediately be released.

 

Article 18. Ballot Papers

1.     The Central Electoral Commission shall determine the form of the ballot papers and provide for its printing.

2.     The presidential candidates shall be included in the ballot papers in the order of their nomination. The ballot papers shall include the name, last name, date and location of birth, profession, position, party membership and the place of work of the presidential candidates as well as the name of the parties which have nominated the candidates, if a candidate is nominated by an initiative group there shall be the note: “nominated by voters”.

3.     The ballot papers shall be printed by the Central Electoral Commission in Georgian and Abkhazian (for Abkhazia) and, if necessary, in the languages of people residing in the given electoral district.

4.     The ballot papers shall be registered properly.

 

Article 19. Voting

1.     The time, place and rule of organizing of voting shall be determined by the Law of Georgia on the Parliamentary Elections.

2.     While voting the voters shall leave untouched the name of the candidate whom they are voting for and cross out the other names.

 

  

CHAPTER III            SUMMING UP OF THE ELECTION

Article 20. Counting of Votes in the Electoral Precincts

1.     The following sequence of procedures shall be observed during the counting of votes:

a.     After the end of voting the Commission shall count and pack the unused ballot papers; the number and the name of the electoral precinct and the number of unused ballot papers shall be indicated on each pack; the signatures of the Chair or of the Deputy Chair and Secretary of the Commission as well as the Commission stamp shall be placed on the packs.

b.     On the basis of the basic and additional lists of voters, the precinct electoral Commission shall ascertain the total number of voters living in the given precinct and the number of voters who received the ballot papers.

c.     The Chair of precinct electoral Commission in the presence of the other members of the Commission shall check the seal on the ballot box, then shall open it and check whether or not the control sheet is available in the box.

d.     The Commission shall count the number of ballot papers or that is the number of voters who took part in the election and the number of ballot papers which are considered invalid (the ballot papers of unidentified form and those by which it is impossible to ascertain whom the voter voted for shall be considered invalid; for all other cases the ballot papers shall be considered valid); the invalid ballot papers shall be put in different envelopes; the envelopes shall be sealed in such a manner that it would be impossible to put in or pull out ballot papers without breaking the seal; the name and the number of electoral precinct as well as the number of ballot papers shall be indicated on the envelope.

e.     The Commission shall sort the ballots papers and count separately the votes received by each candidate; then the ballot papers shall be packed in the manner described in point “d”.

f.      The Precinct Electoral Commission shall consider the results of the counting of votes on its meeting and input the results in a protocol; in the protocol there shall be indicated the number of votes received by each candidate; the number of copies of the protocols shall exceed the number of candidates listed in the ballot papers by three; each copy of the protocol shall be signed by the Chair, Deputy Chair, Secretary and the other members of the Commission and be stamped.

g.     Two copies of the protocol and all ballot papers shall immediately be sent to the District Electoral Commission in the way determined by the latter; one copy of the protocol shall be kept by the Precinct Election Commission itself; one copy shall be handed out to the representatives of each candidate.

2.     In case of doubts with respect to the validity of ballot papers, the Commission shall resolve the question by casting of votes.

 

Article 21. Determination of the Election Results by the District Electoral Commissions

1.     The District Electoral Commission on basis of the protocols received from the Precinct Electoral Commissions shall ascertain the number of unused ballot papers, the total number of voters, the number of voters who participated in the election, the number of invalid ballot papers, the number of votes received by each candidate.

2.     The District Electoral Commissions shall consider the facts of breach of this Law in electoral precincts and shall immediately present to the Central Electoral Commission their decisions on the determination of the election as invalid. The complaints concerning the breach of this Law shall be submitted to the District Electoral Commissions no later than the next day of the election. The District Electoral Commissions shall consider these complaints and make decisions on the next day and submit their decisions to the Central Electoral Commission no later that the next day.

3.     The District Electoral Commissions shall sum up the election results on their meetings and develop the protocols.

4.     The number of copies of the protocols shall exceed the number of the candidates listed in the ballot paper by two. Each copy of the protocol shall be signed by the Chair, Deputy Chair, Secretary and members of the Commission and be stamped.

5.     The first copies of the protocols and unused ballot papers shall be delivered to the Central Electoral Commission no later than 5 days after the election in the way determined by the Central Electoral Commission; one copy shall be handed out to the representatives of each candidate.

 

Article 22. Summing Up of the Election Results by the Central Electoral Commission. Ascertaining a Winner.

1.     The Central Election Commission on the basis of the protocols received from the District Election Commissions shall ascertain the total number of voters, the number of participants to the election and voting, the number of ballot papers considered as invalid, the number of votes received by each candidate.

2.     The presidential election shall be considered as held if the majority of the total number of voters has participated in the election.

3.     The presidential candidate who has received more than half of the votes of the voters participating in the election shall be considered as elected.

4.     If the election is declared as held but none of the two or more presidential candidates is elected, the Central Electoral Commission shall announce a second round of election. The second round shall be held within 2 weeks.

5.     If it is announced that the election is considered as not held, or has been held but in the first round participated only one candidate who was not able to receive the required amount of votes, or if no candidate was elected in the second round, a new election shall be held within 2 months.

6.     The Central Electoral Commission shall summarize the election results within 20 days after the election on its session according to the electoral districts and develop a protocol.

7.     The number of copies of the protocol shall exceed the number of the candidates listed in the ballot papers by two. Each copy of the protocol shall be signed by the Chair, Deputy Chair, Secretary and members of the Commission and be stamped.

8.     The protocol shall be kept at the Central Electoral Commission; one copy of the protocol shall be given to the authorized representatives of the candidates.

9.     Within 5 days from the summing up of the election results, the Central Electoral Commission shall announce the election results through the official media.

CHAPTER IV            SECOND ROUND OF ELECTION. NEW ELECTION

Article 23. Second Round of Election

1.     The second round of election shall be held if two or more candidates were nominated for the presidency, the election was declared as held, but none of them received more than half of the votes of those voters who participated in the elections.

2.     The two candidates having the best results in the first round shall participate in the second round of election. The second round shall be declared as held if at least one third of total number of voters has participated. The candidate who receives more votes shall be considered as elected, but the number of votes received shall be at least one fifth of the total number of voters.

3.     In case of equal division of votes in the second round, the privilege shall be given to the candidate who has received more votes in the first round.

 

Article 24. New Election

1.     If the election is declared as not held, or is held but only one candidate participated who did not receive the required number of votes, or no candidate was elected in the second round, then a new presidential election shall be held. Immediately after the summing up of the election results, the Central Election Commission, on the basis of Paragraph 7, Article 70 of the Constitution, shall set the date for the new election.

2.     The new election shall be held within 2 months.

3.     The decision on the appointment of the new election shall be announced in the official media.

4.     The electoral measures during the new election shall be taken in accordance with this Law and within the term determined by the Central Electoral Commission.

 

TRANSITIONAL PROVISION

In spite of the term defined by Article 14 of this Law the first presidential election of Georgia shall be held on the basis of this Law on November 5, 1995.

The Chair of the Parliament of Georgia

Head of the State    Eduard Shevardnadze

The Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia   Vakhtang Goguadze

Tbilisi
01.09.1995              #792 - RS
Corrections:
17.10. 1997              #967 -IS
20.07.1999              #2251 -RS

 

Source: IFES.