Address of NGOs to Political Parties Working on Election Reforms

Since November 2010 the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), Transparency International – Georgia, the New Generation – New Initiative (nGnI) and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) have been actively observing the process of negotiations for improvement of election environment, supported by the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES). The process was transparent as a number of international and local NGOs that in their turn updated public on developments in the negotiations, could freely attend it.

As you are aware, on June 27, 2011, five political parties signed an agreement offered by the ruling party on measures for improvement of the election environment. Later the agreement was signed by several other political parties.   

On July 8, 2011, the first meeting of the editorial group working on the election reform was held at the Parliament of Georgia. The group focuses on issues that will be reflected in the election legislation on the basis of the agreement between the stakeholders. The editorial group is scheduled to hold the second meeting in two weeks. The meeting will not be attended by representatives of non-governmental and international organizations. Public is unaware of the composition and the working format of the group.

The process is of high public interest. Furthermore, for the political processes to be conducted democratically, it is important to ensure their transparency, which will promote voters’ awareness and raise the level of public trust in the process.

Therefore, we address all political parties engaged in the editorial group to promote transparency of the process, engagement of non-governmental and international organizations in it and to make decisions in consideration of voters’ interests.

On our end, we are ready to continue active cooperation with all stakeholders, in order to contribute to the process of elaboration of legislative amendments necessary for the improvement of the election environment.