Parliament Overrides President’s 3 Vetoes
Georgian parliament has overridden three vetoes of President Giorgi Margvelashvili on two bills of the Election Code and on one draft code of self-Government.
The parliament did not take into account the president’s motivated remarks about the bills and overrode vetoes on the Election Code drafts, with 94 votes to 5, and 92 votes to 3. The veto on the Self-Government draft law was overridden with 94 votes to 5 against.
According to the amendments made by the ruling party Georgian Dream (GD) to the Election Code, which Margvelashvili did not sign, the rules for the appointment of the Central Election Committee (CEC) members and the termination of their term have changed.
The new law envisages that the six members of the CEC will be appointed by those parties who have been registered independently, or by election blocs, to participate in parliamentary elections and which received the mandates of MPs and created a parliamentary faction.
This means that the appointment of CEC members by parties in the election administration will depend on the number of votes received by the party in the recent parliamentary elections. This enables the ruling party to have more representatives in the CEC.
The rule of electing the CEC Head also changes. At present, the CEC Head is nominated by the President and approved by the CEC members, but under the new amendments, the CEC Head will be elected either by two thirds of the CEC members or by Parliament.
The second Election Code bill adopted by the parliament also reduces the president’s powers, depriving him of the right to appoint snap elections for Mayor in case of the early termination of the Mayor's term.
At present, the President is authorized to appoint early local elections with the countersignature of the Prime Minister.
The new amendments to the Local Election Code adopted by the parliament envisage that the Central Election Commission will have the right to appoint the snap elections instead of the president.
The Self-Government draft law amendments envisage reduction of self-governing cities.
Among 14 municipalities in Georgia, seven are self-governing cities (Zugdidi, Ozurgeti, Gori, Telavi, Akhaltsikhe, Mtskheta and Ambrolauri), and they will lose their status and be transformed into municipalities.
Moreover, the number of self-governing cities will be reduced from twelve to five. This means that during the local elections scheduled for this October, mayors will only be elected in Tbilisi, Batumi, Rustavi, Kutaisi and Poti, while the remaining cities will be left without a mayor.
As a result of the bill, there will be five self-governing cities and seven municipalities in the country.
This year Parliament has overridden seven vetoes of the president. In order to override a veto, it is necessary to have at least 76 votes of MPs. The ruling party has 116 members in a 150-seat legislative body.
Thea Morrison