Registration of observer organisations

1. The CEC shall register an international observer organisation as well as a domestic observer organisation observing elections in more than one electoral district.

2. The respective DEC shall register a domestic observer organisation observing elections in a particular electoral district.

3. In order to be registered, a domestic election observer organisation shall apply to the relevant election commission not later than the 10th day before the Election Day and shall submit the excerpt from the Registry of Entrepreneurs and Nonentrepreneurial (Non-commercial) Legal Entities. The application shall include the name of an electoral district/districts within which the organisation shall observe elections. The election commission shall make a decision on registration within five days after receipt of the application.

31. The excerpt specified in paragraph 3 of this article, which is prepared by the Legal Entity under Public Law operating under the Ministry of Justice of Georgia – the National Agency of Public Registry, shall be issued within the last 10 days before the application is submitted to the election commission and it shall include the person/persons having the power of administration/representation of the organisation. In order to verify/confirm, at the time of registration of the organisation, the authenticity of the data in the excerpt issued by the Legal Entity under Public Law operating under the Ministry of Justice of Georgia – the National Agency of Public Registry and the requirements under Article 39(2) of this Law, the Agency shall provide the CEC with the possibility of accessing and verifying the appropriate electronic databases.

4. In order to get registered, an international observer organisation shall apply to the CEC not later than the 7th day prior to the polling day and shall submit to it a copy of its constituent document. If an observer (a group of observers) represents a foreign state authority, it shall only submit an application. The CEC shall, within 5 days after the application is received but not later than the 4 th day prior to the polling day, decide on the issue of registration of the organisation, or the observer (the group of observers) defined in this paragraph.

5. The election commission may not refuse to register an observer organisation if it meets the requirements of this Law. An ordinance of the election commission for the refusal of registration shall be well-founded and shall be delivered to the organisation not later than the day following the day of the decision. An ordinance of the election commission may be appealed to the court within two days after its receipt. The court shall render a decision within two days after the application is filed with the court.

6. An international observer organisation registered by the CEC shall submit information about observers and photocopies of their identity cards to the CEC Secretary not later than the second day before the polling day. An ordinance of the CEC shall determine the content and the form of that information.

7. A domestic observer organisation registered by the CEC shall submit to the CEC Secretary not later than the fifth day before the polling day an application on the registration of observers, filled out in accordance with the form established by the CEC, stating that the observers on the list submitted by the organisation satisfy the requirements established by Article 39(4) of this law, as well as a list of observers appointed at the CEC, DECs, and PECs (with the indication of surnames, names, places of registration and personal numbers of Georgian citizens) and photocopies of identity cards of Georgian citizens or passports of Georgian citizens of each of them. A domestic observer organisation registered by the DEC shall submit a list of observers appointed to a DEC and/or its lower PEC to the DEC secretary within the same time frame and in accordance with the same form.

71. If a person authorised to be the head/representative of a registered local observer organisation is registered as an electoral subject and/or a representative of an electoral subject, the local observer organisation shall, not later than 5 calendar days after the registration, submit to a respective election commission a document to prove that the powers of the person authorised to be the head/representative of the local observer organisation, who has been registered as the electoral subject/representative of the subject, has been or will be terminated. Failure to submit such a document shall be the grounds for cancelling the registration of the organisation.

8. A domestic observer registered with the CEC may observe elections at all election commissions of any level according to the procedures provided for by the third paragraph of Article 39 of this Law. 9. The election commission secretary shall, within two days after the list of observers is submitted, register observers nominated under this Law and shall issue an observer certificate to the observer organisation. An observer certificate shall at the same time serve as a badge to be worn by the observer.

10. An observer from a domestic observer organisation at a DEC and an observer observing elections at an electoral precinct within the territory of the electoral district shall, on the polling day, have the right to observe elections at any electoral precinct in the territory of the relevant electoral district as defined in the third paragraph of Article 39 of this Law.

Organic Law of Georgia No 6571 of 28 June 2012 – website, 28.6.2012
Organic Law of Georgia No 5438 of 22 June 2016 – website, 12.7.2016
Organic Law of Georgia No 1274 of 26 July 2017 – website, 29.7.2017
Organic Law of Georgia No 3269 of 21 July 2018 – website, 27.7.2018