Basic principles for holding elections, referenda, and plebiscites

Basic principles for holding elections, referenda, and plebiscites in Georgia shall be:

a)  universal suffrage to participate in elections/referenda/plebiscites:

a.a) any citizen of Georgia, who has attained the age of 18 before or on the day of an election/referendum/plebiscite and who meets the requirements defined by this Law, shall enjoy active suffrage, except for the persons who, under the Constitution of Georgia and/or this Law, have a restricted active suffrage;

a.b) all citizens of Georgia who meet the conditions determined by this Law, except for persons whose passive suffrage have been restricted under the Constitution of Georgia, this Law, the Law of Georgia on Combating Drug-related Crimes, and the Law of Georgia on Combating Crimes against Sexual Freedom and Inviolability shall have passive suffrage;

a.c) a citizen of Georgia who, by a court judgment, is placed in a penitentiary facility for an extremely serious crime, or, by a court decision, is recognised as a beneficiary of support and is placed in an appropriate inpatient medical facility under, may not participate in an election, referendum and plebiscite;

b) equal suffrage:

b.a) voters shall participate in elections, referenda, and plebiscites on equal grounds;

b.b) every voter of the same electoral district shall have an equal number of votes;

c) direct suffrage:

c.a) elections in Georgia shall be direct;

c.b) an MP of Georgia, a member of the Sakrebulo of a self-governing city/self-governing community, and a Mayor of a self- governing city/self-governing community shall be elected directly by voters;

c.c) President of Georgia shall be elected by the Election Panel by open ballot without-debate voting;

d) secrecy of ballot and free expression of the will of voters:

d.a) an election, a referendum, and a plebiscite in Georgia shall be held by secret ballot, except for Presidential elections of Georgia;

d.b) coercion and/or intimidation of voters and violation of the secrecy of voting shall be prohibited. Such action shall result in criminal liability of a violator.

Organic Law of Georgia No 864 of 25 July 2013 – website, 19.8.2013

Organic Law of Georgia No 2093 of 7 March 2014 – website, 14.3.2014

Organic Law of Georgia No 3402 of 20 March 2015 – website, 31.3.2015

Organic Law of Georgia No 3562 of 1 May 2015 – website, 18.5.2015

Organic Law of Georgia No 1232 of 26 July 2017 – website, 29.7.2017

Organic Law of Georgia No 3127 of 5 July 2018 – website, 11.7.2018

Organic Law of Georgia No 3266 of 21 July 2018 – website, 13.8.2018

Organic Law of Georgia No 5772 of 17 March 2020 – website, 23.3.2020

Organic Law of Georgia No 7097 of 3 September 2020 – website, 4.9.2020