Procedures for appointing/electing DEC members/head officers
1. A DEC shall consist of 13 members appointed/elected by the subjects defined by this Law under the procedure and within the time frame defined in this Law.
2. If there is a respective vacancy, a DEC shall elect DEC head officers at the first session from among the commission members, for the term of membership, by a majority vote of the total number of members, through roll-call voting.
3. Not less than 2 members of the commission shall have the right to nominate candidates for DEC chairperson, deputy chairperson, and secretary.
4. The same candidate may be nominated only twice.
5. If a DEC fails to elect a head officer within the established time frame, the commission member who receives the most votes during elections shall perform the duties of the head officer until he/she is elected; and in the case of equal votes, the person elected by casting lots shall perform the duties of the head officer.
6. The CEC shall issue an ordinance for the conduct of competition not later than 60 days before the term of office of a DEC member expires or not later than three days after his/her term of office terminates early.
7. The CEC shall elect a DEC member not earlier than 20 and not later than 10 days before the term of office of the DEC member expires. The DEC head officers shall be elected within the same time frame.
8. If the term of office of a DEC member elected by the CEC terminates early, the CEC shall elect the substitute within 15 days (and within seven days after announcing Election Day). The DEC head officers shall be elected within the same time frame if their term of office terminates early.
9. The term of office of one DEC member appointed by the CEC under Article 19(5) of this Law, and the term of office of commission members appointed by parties under Article 13 of this Law shall cease immediately after the final results of elections are announced.
10. Candidates for DEC membership shall be selected by open competition.
11. Candidates for DEC membership shall be non-partisan persons with higher education, fluent in the official language of Georgia, and holding a certificate of an Electoral Administration officer.
12. Any capable citizen of Georgia, who has attained the age of 21 and who meets the requirements of this Law, may participate in a competition. The deadline for submission of competition documents shall be as follows:
a) if the term of office expires - within 14 days after the competition is announced;
b) if the term of office terminates early - within 10 days after the competition is announced, and if elections are called - within two days after the competition is announced.
13. A competition application shall specify: first name and last name, education (higher), occupation, scientific degree (if any), address (according to a Georgian citizen’s identity card (registration certificate)), work place and position, contact address and telephone number (if any) of a candidate, number and name of an electoral district, in which the candidate wants to become a DEC member. The candidate shall sign the application and shall enclose with it:
a) two photos
b) a photocopy of a Georgian citizen’s identity card or a photocopy of a Georgian citizen’s passport
c) a photocopy of a document of higher education of the candidate (as well as academic (scientific) degree, if any)
d) a photocopy of a certificate of an Electoral Administration officer
e) employment record and description of the election-related experience of the candidate (if any).
14. If the submitted documents are inconsistent with the requirements provided for by this article, the CEC Chairperson shall notify the candidate of it (specifying the discrepancy) within two days. The corrected documents shall be returned to the CEC within two days, but not later than the registration deadline.
15. The CEC shall publish the list of candidates on its official website after the deadline for receiving documents expires.
16. The CEC shall elect DEC members by a roll-call vote. Each candidate shall be voted on separately. A person supported by a majority vote of the total number of CEC members shall be deemed elected. If the number of elected candidates exceeds the number of available vacancies, candidates with the most votes shall be elected. If the winner cannot be determined due to an equal number of votes received by some candidates, the candidates shall be put to a vote immediately in order to determine the winner. If a winner is still not determined, he/she shall be determined by casting lots. If all the vacancies are not filled after polling, the rest of the candidates shall be put to a vote again. If all the vacancies are not yet filled, the competition for the rest of the vacancies shall be announced once again.
17. The following subjects may not be elected/appointed as a DEC member:
a) a person who has not been granted the certificate of an Electoral Administration officer
b) a person who has been dismissed from a position at the Electoral Administration by the election commission or the court for violating the electoral legislation of Georgia– for 8 years after the day of his/her dismissal
c) a person who has violated electoral legislation of Georgia and the violation is confirmed by the court – for 8 years after the entry into legal force of the court decision
d) a person with previous conviction (except when a fine has been imposed as a sanction) e) an electoral subject/candidate and his/her representative
f) an election observer.
18. If a person is elected/appointed as a DEC member, he/she shall, within seven days, meet the requirements defined by this Law for the restriction of activities and official incompatibility.
