"This Affects You Too" holds election law roundtable

Media outlets, NGOs, and concerned citizens held a roundtable on March 2, under the banner of the campaign "This Affects You Too". The group introduced proposals for amending election legislation to international organizations and political parties, and made a special appeal to the President of Georgia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The authors of the legislative counter-proposal to the recently-updated law on political unions, discussed the prohibitions to campaign finance created by the existing legislation, and presented detailed information about their proposals, which they believe can ensure freedom of speech, the rights to property and assembly, and the improvement of election environment in the country. They have emphasized that several articles must be removed from the law, while others need to be more carefully worded.

“Without any proof, the law restricts the voter’s right to make a choice or express political sympathy or antipathy. That is why the package of changes was [suggested] by us,” head of Open Society Georgia, Keti Khutsishvili, said.

In particular, article 26, which concerns those entities related to political parties and their punishment, is targeted for change. "Based on the [amendments], sanctions would be set on those legal entities that finance political parties and their election campaigns, [while] none of those legal entities that openly declare their political sympathies would be punished. At the same time, the sequestration of property would be carried out without a trial," Irakli Melashvili, head of For Freedom of Choice, noted.

During the meeting, NGOs especially underlined the importance of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), a large-scale, long-term mission to observe the upcoming Georgian parliamentary elections in October 2012. “We have appealed to the Georgian government to invite ODIHR to monitor these elections, which will be strongly contested, and a milestone in the country’s young democratic history. President Saakashvili, in a recent address, also stressed the importance of inviting international observers to monitor the pre-election environment, to show Georgia’s commitment to hold free and fair elections in 2012.”

The "This Affects You Too" movement stressed that an unofficial election campaign is already ongoing in Georgia, and the ODIHR will play a valuable role in monitoring the enforcement of campaign finance legislation, and reporting back on deviations from international standards, in order to support free and fair election in Georgia.

A special appeal to President Saakashvili included a recommendation to deploy an OSCE/ODIHR long-term Election Observation Mission to Georgia at the earliest date possible, “Since professional and impartial monitoring of the electoral environment is extremely important not only during the two-month pre-election period, but also throughout the whole election year".

Representatives from the parliamentary majority are ready to look at proposals for reform, however, as head of the Parliamentary legal Committee, Pavle Kublashvili, maintained, "The [spirit] of the law will remain... The purpose of the law, which envisages punishment of unconscientious players providing money through illegal means, would remain. On the other hand, if some language is to be [tweaked], the goal will still be achieved".