Tbilisi: The fourth session of the Inter-departmental commission was recently held in Georgia. The meeting aimed to discuss measures for conducting free and fair elections in Georgia scheduled for October 2024.
It is worth noting that the main purpose of the inter-departmental commission which was created in accordance with the Election Code is to prevent violations of the Election Code of Conduct.
The commission also addresses issues of civil servant’s violations of legislation and responds quickly to these violations. At present the commission is headed by Minister of Justice Rati Bregadze of the Republic of Georgia.
Notably at the session the members of the commission discussed in detail all the information received as a result of monitoring process. The session was chaired by the deputy chairman Deputy Minister of Justice Tornike Cheishvili. At the same time a large number of representatives from public agencies participated.
The session was enriched by the presence of representatives from international monitoring organizations such as the ‘International Republican Institute’ (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute’ (NDI). In addition political parties including the ruling party Georgian Dream and various opposition parties actively contributed to the discussions.
Georgia is going to hold the election of the national parliament in October. The ruling party is planning to register a victory for another term. On the other hand the opposition parties are also showing confidence in their victory based on the anti-people decision of ruling party. The opposition parties have blamed the ruling party for violating people’s rights especially freedom of free speech.
The foreign agent’s law which the ruling regime implemented recently is the centre point of all the party’s October election campaign. The Prime Minister himself as well as other senior office bearers of Georgian Dream have defended the adoption of the law to bring transparency in foreign funding but opposition parties termed this law a Russian law aiming to curb freedom of speech and expression.
The commission encourages active citizen participation by providing a platform for complaints or information. Citizens can reach out via email at iatf@justice.gov.ge or by phone at (+995) 599 85 00 11.
