The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Tamar Zhvania, the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia, Vahagn Muradian, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, Gocha Lordkipanidze, Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia and the head of Inter-Agency Task Force for Free and Fair Elections and Catherine Kardava, Head of the Civil Service Bureau.

The memorandum aims to raise awareness of those employed in civil institutions regarding the relevant national and international regulations in order to ensure prevention of unlawful misuse of administrative resources and abuse of a position during electoral processes for the Parliamentary Elections of October 31, 2020, as well as to prevent violations of the rules of campaigning and participation in the election campaign.

The Memorandum envisages the implementation of the informational-educational E-learning course - "election campaign and administrative resources - prevention of illegal use of administrative resources in electoral processes and response to violations"- developed by the CEC and the Center for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Training (Training Center) in cooperation with the Council of Europe. Informational-educational E-learning course is designed for the civil servants and other interested persons as well. 

The signing ceremony was opened by the CEC Chairperson, who alongside with the opening remarks outlined the importance of the Memorandum. “Memorandum is about web-platform - informational-educational E-learning course – of the prevention of unlawful misuse of administrative resources and the rules of campaigning. With the help of the course, civil servants will gain the knowledge, experience and practical recommendations needed to hold fair and credible elections in the country”-stated Tamar Zhvania.

Vahagn Muradian, Gocha Lordkipanidze and Catherine Kardava addressed with welcome speeches to the audience. Natia Zaalishvili, Director of the Training Center, performed the presentation of informatinal E-learning course on “Election campaign and administrative resources - preventing and responding to abuse of administrative resources during electoral processes” developed for public servants.

The signing ceremony was organised with the support of the Council of Europes’ project - “Supporting Transparency, Inclusiveness and Integrity of Electoral Practice and Process in Georgia”.