Georgia’s election commission urges PACE to base assessments on ‘verified facts’

Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has urged the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) not to assess developments in the country “superficially,” calling instead for reliance on “verified facts” in its evaluation of the electoral process.

The appeal comes in a formal letter from the CEC, issued in response to a critical resolution passed by PACE on 10 April. The resolution denounced recent changes to Georgia’s electoral framework, including a controversial CEC resolution that prohibits observers from verifying voters’ ID cards on election day – a measure the commission says is rooted in legal necessity.

The CEC claimed the restriction was introduced following “multiple breaches” of election laws in past votes, including incidents involving unauthorized photography and video recording, as well as concerns over the protection of voters’ personal data. The commission asserted that the limitation was consistent with recommendations from the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

“Critics of the aforementioned resolution, people who provided you with information about this, are deliberately trying to distort reality,” the CEC said in its letter. It also highlighted that domestic courts upheld the resolution in legal challenges initiated by civil society group ISFED.

However, the letter did not address growing concerns over judicial impartiality – a point raised by both local NGOs and international partners, including the United States and United Kingdom, which have imposed sanctions on several Georgian judges in recent months.

The CEC resolution was adopted on 3 April, triggering domestic legal appeals that failed to overturn the decision. PACE’s subsequent resolution warned that the new rules, alongside recent amendments to Georgia’s Election Code, have tilted the electoral playing field in favour of the ruling Georgian Dream party and further weakened the independence of the electoral administration.

The 10 April resolution follows a similar statement adopted by PACE earlier this year on 29 January, which called for new parliamentary elections, the release of political prisoners, and placed the Georgian Dream delegation under probation with restricted participation rights until April 2025.

In protest, Georgian Dream withdrew its members from participation in PACE proceedings. No representatives from the Georgian delegation were present during the most recent Assembly session.