Procedure for electing the CEC members
1. The President of Georgia shall select candidates for CEC membership under the procedure established by this article and submit them to the Parliament of Georgia. The term of office of the CEC members elected by the Parliament of Georgia shall be 5 years, unless otherwise established by this article.
2. A candidate for CEC membership shall be selected on an open competition basis.
3. The President of Georgia shall, not later than 30 days before the term of office of a CEC member expires, and if a vacant position occurs, not later than 15 days from its occurrence, issue a decree on holding a competition and setting up a competition commission. The competition commission shall be composed of not less than 9 and not more than 11 members. The competition commission may be comprised of the representatives of those entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities registered only in Georgia that have at least 7 years’ experience of working in the field of elections, or protection of democracy or human rights, and whose activities, both financial and content-wise, are publicly available; and the representatives of higher educational institutions that hold elective academic ranks. The competition documents shall be submitted not later than 14 days after the competition is announced. If the above timeframe coincides with the election period, the President of Georgia shall announce the competition not later than seven days following the announcement of the final results of election. The powers of a CEC member shall terminate once a new member is elected. The competition commission shall make a decision by a majority of the total number of members.
4. A candidate for the CEC membership may be a legally competent citizen of Georgia from the age of 25, who is non-partisan, has not been a member appointed by a party to the election commission, an electoral subject or its representative within the last 5 years, who has higher education, is fluent in the official language of Georgia, meets the requirements of Article 27(2) of the Law of Georgia on Public Service, has at least 5 years’ work experience, and holds a certificate of an electoral administration officer.
5. The following individuals may not be elected/appointed as a CEC member:
a) a person who does not hold a certificate of an Electoral Administration officer;
b) a person who has been dismissed from a position in the Electoral Administration by the election commission or the court for violating the electoral legislation of Georgia, – for four years after the day of his/her dismissal;
c) a person who has been recognised as an administrative offender by court for violation of the electoral legislation of Georgia, – for four years after the entry into legal force of the court decision;
d) a person with previous conviction;
e) an electoral subject/a candidate for electoral subject, or its representative;f) an observer.
6. If at least 2 candidates for one vacant position of a CEC member are not nominated within the time limit defined by this Law, the competition shall be continued for a period during which at least 2 candidates for one vacant position of the CEC member are nominated.
7. The list of candidates for the CEC membership with their biographies shall be published within two days after the time limit for nominating candidates expires.
8. A competition commission shall, not later than 5 days after the time limit for nominating candidates expires, nominate to the President of Georgia not less than 2 and not more than 3 candidates for each vacant position for election of a person as a CEC member. The voting results of all the candidates participating in the competition and the reasons of the competition commission members for supporting a candidate or refusing to support him/her shall be indicated in the records of a session of the competition commission, which is public. The President of Georgia shall, not later than 7 days after the candidates are selected, make a decision on selecting the candidates for the CEC membership or refusing to select them. If the candidates are selected, the President of Georgia shall submit to the Parliament of Georgia 2 candidates for one vacant position of a CEC member. If the President of Georgia fails to select candidates, he/she shall announce another competition.
9. The Parliament of Georgia shall elect CEC members under the procedure established by the rules of procedure of the Parliament of Georgia not later than 14 days after the President of Georgia submits candidates for the CEC membership to the Parliament of Georgia.
10. One and the same candidate for election to a vacant position of a CEC member may be nominated only twice.
11. The term of office of a CEC member who is elected by less than two thirds of votes of the total number of members of the Parliament of Georgia shall be 6 months.
12. A resolution of the Parliament of Georgia on electing a CEC member shall be submitted to the CEC within 7 days after it is made.
Organic Law of Georgia No 4392 of 27 October 2015 – website, 11.11.2015
Organic Law of Georgia No 5438 of 22 June 2016 – website, 12.7.2016
Organic Law of Georgia No 168 of 21 December 2016 – website, 28.12.2016
Organic Law of Georgia No 3269 of 21 July 2018 – website, 27.7.2018
Organic Law of Georgia No 3907 of 6 December 2018 – website, 14.12.2018
Organic Law of Georgia No 703 of 28 June 2021 – website, 29.6.2021
