The Legal Affairs Committee discussed and approved the Draft Election Code and the companion Bills for the II reading.

The legal amendments specify certain terms, including the holding of the elections, referendum or plebiscite within the state borders of Georgia. The Draft also specifies the regulations on the photo-video recording in view of personal data protection.

For the purpose of facilitating the proper organization of elections, the legal grounds for cooperation between state bodies and the election administration are defined.

Amendments are introduced to the rules concerning the incompatibility of office and employment-related issues for officials of Georgia’s election administration, as well as to the regulations governing the establishment of electoral districts and local majoritarian electoral districts.

Under the draft law, the norms regulating voting and the summarization of election results are consolidated within the relevant chapters; the procedure for indicating the percentage of votes received by an electoral subject in the summary protocol is clarified; and the rules for the participation in elections of a voter who has been deregistered from their place of residence, whose registration has been declared invalid by the agency, who is registered without a specified address, or who is registered abroad, are defined.

Through this legislative initiative, the rules for the participation of voters located in another state are amended, and, similar to municipal elections, elections of the Parliament of Georgia will be held only within the state borders of Georgia.

As stated by the reporter, Chair of the Procedural Issues Committee, Davit Matikashvili, based on the new edition of the “Election Code,” amendments are envisaged to the Organic Law “On Referendum,” the “Municipal Code,” the Law “On the Development of High Mountain Regions,” and the “Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Georgia.”