Basic Principles of Conducting Elections
The third article of the Election Code of Georgia records the basic principles of conducting elections, referenda and plebiscites. Active suffrage belongs to every citizen of Georgia who has turned or turns 18 on or before the day of the elections. Elections are equal — every voter of the same electoral district has an equal number of votes — and direct: members of Parliament, members of sakrebulo and mayors are elected directly by the voters, while the President is elected by an electoral college without debate by open vote. The ballot is secret: coercion, intimidation and violation of the secrecy of the vote are prohibited and entail criminal liability. The registration of electoral subjects is carried out by the chairman of the respective commission: where the documents do not meet the requirements, the representative is notified within 2 days, 3 days are given to perfect the documents, and once corrected the registration issue is decided within 2 days of submission.
Status of Observers and the Registration Procedure
The right to observe elections belongs to local and international observer organizations registered with the Central Election Commission or a district commission. A local observer organization may be a non-entrepreneurial legal entity registered no later than 1 year before polling day whose statute provides for election monitoring or the protection of human rights; its leader or a member of its governing body may not be a person empowered to lead a political party or a donor to a party during the last 4 years. A local observer may be a citizen of Georgia from the age of 18, subject to statutory exceptions — a judge, a commission member or a representative of an electoral subject cannot be an observer, and a recognized administrative offender cannot be one for 4 years. For registration, a local organization applies no later than the 10th day before the elections, an international one no later than the 7th day; the commission decides within 5 days, and for international organizations no later than the 4th day before polling day. A commission cannot refuse registration to an organization meeting the requirements; a refusal is appealed to court within 2 days and the court decides within 2 days. One organization may have only one local and no more than 2 international observers in a precinct at a time.