Home > 2.3 Observation > GEORGIA – Follow-up Opinion to the Joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and ODIHR on the Draft Amendments to the Election Code and to the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament
 
 
 
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Paragraph 18
 

As the Venice Commission has already stressed in the initial Opinion as well as in several previous Opinions, “the electoral law must enjoy a certain stability, which is a crucial aspect of legal certainty; on the one hand, such stability allows for the understanding of the electoral rules by all the stakeholders: the candidates, the voters, the electoral administration, the observers, the public; on the other hand, it represents a guarantee against party political manipulation.”13 The Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters makes it clear that “[s]tability of the law is crucial to credibility of the electoral process, which is itself vital to consolidating democracy. Rules which change frequently – and especially rules which are complicated – may confuse voters. Above all, voters may conclude, rightly or wrongly, that electoral law is simply a tool in the hands of the powerful, and that their own votes have little weight in deciding the results of elections.”