Head persons of the District Election Commissions (DEC) are taking part in the workshop ‘Settlement of Electoral Disputes (Uniform and Effective Examination, and Proper Substantiation of Decision).’

Today, the workshop has been inaugurated by the Deputy Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Georgia, Giorgi Sharabidze, the Country Director in Georgia at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Renata Levovski, and the Senior Project Officer at the Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentary and Electoral Cooperation Division, Maia Jorjikia. As Giorgi Sharabidze highlighted at the beginning of the meeting, studying local and international experience along with practice as well as its examination and consideration are crucial for promoting professional administration of electoral process.

‘The event, on its part, responds to the OSCE/ODIHR recommendation which was published following the last general elections. It is vital that before the October 26, 2024 Elections, the head persons of the DECs are provided with detailed information regarding international standards for settlement of electoral disputes.’– stated Giorgi Sharabidze during the workshop.

For the time being, the CoE Expert, Shota Getsadze, the IFES Expert, Tatyana Hilscher-Bogussevich, the Head of the CEC Legal Department, Giorgi Santuriani, and the Lawyer/Analyst of the CEC Training Center, Davit Makaridze, are delivering pertinent information to the meeting participants. As part of the meeting, the participants are discussing crucial topics such as legal amendments, legal actions for electoral disputes and their uniform settlement, international obligations, OSCE standards and recommendations as well as comparative practice, including overview of the national case law as well as standards for substantiating decisions. 

The workshop is being organized with the support of the IFES and the CoE in Georgia, and has an attendance of the DECs’ head persons at several phases.