Coherent election legislation and political will to implement the law is one of the basic premises of the free and democratic elections. Domestic observer organizations – International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (Gyla), New Generation New Initiative (nGnI) and Transparency International – Georgia (TI) welcome the initiative of the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia to establish the multiparty group to improve the shortcomings in the unified election code of Georgia, in November 2010. We also welcome the technical support provided to the work of the Election Code Working Group (ECWG) by the “International Foundation for Electoral Systems”. On 23th of March, 2011, eight political parties made the special statement with regard to inefficiency of the ECWG and prolonging the negotiation process. The Political Parties mentioned about the possibility of undermined dialogue and negotiation process caused by the insufficient involvement of the ruling party. Taking into account the high interest of the voters towards the negotiation process and the outcome of the dialogue, we believe that it is important the ECWG to further continue work on the election legislation and reach the agreement on the issues which are important for the improvement of the election environment. We call all members of the ECWG to take into consideration the interest of the voters and in the process of electoral reform be guided by the necessary fundamental values for democratic development of the country and not by narrow political interests.
Coherent election legislation and political will to implement the law is one of the basic premises of the free and democratic elections. Domestic observer organizations – International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (Gyla), New Generation New Initiative (nGnI) and Transparency International – Georgia (TI) welcome the initiative of the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia to establish the multiparty group to improve the shortcomings in the unified election code of Georgia, in November 2010. We also welcome the technical support provided to the work of the Election Code Working Group (ECWG) by the “International Foundation for Electoral Systems”. On 23th of March, 2011, eight political parties made the special statement with regard to inefficiency of the ECWG and prolonging the negotiation process. The Political Parties mentioned about the possibility of undermined dialogue and negotiation process caused by the insufficient involvement of the ruling party. Taking into account the high interest of the voters towards the negotiation process and the outcome of the dialogue, we believe that it is important the ECWG to further continue work on the election legislation and reach the agreement on the issues which are important for the improvement of the election environment. We call all members of the ECWG to take into consideration the interest of the voters and in the process of electoral reform be guided by the necessary fundamental values for democratic development of the country and not by narrow political interests.

For this purpose, we believe that it is important to:

Continue negotiations in the format of the election code working group;
Maintain constructive and result oriented approach by all the political subjects of the ECWG;
Make decisions in a timely manner;
Identify key issues, which will increase the trust of the society towards the electoral processes
and will create desired electoral environment for all stakeholders;
Reach the agreement once the fundamental issues are identified;
Make legislative changes promptly after the agreement is achieved for leaving enough time
for proper preparation for the upcoming elections

For improving electoral environment, we believe, that election code working group should draw
special attention to the following issues such as:

Electoral Systems;
Composition of the Election Administration;
Pre-Election Campaign (Administrative resources, agitation);
Finding effective mechanisms for dispute resolution.

We, from our side, express our readiness to support the process of further negotiations.