Powers of the CEC
1. The CEC shall:
a) ensure, within the scope of its powers, holding of an election, a referendum, and a plebiscite, oversee the process of implementation of the electoral legislation throughout the territory of Georgia, and ensure its uniform application;
b) adopt, by a decree, the regulations of the Electoral Administration;
b1) determine, by a decree, issues related to labour relations and work incompatibility of CEC members and elected members of a DEC;
b2) ensure, within the scope of its powers, holding of regular, re-run and extraordinary elections of the President of Georgia;
c) have, in exceptional cases, if it is impossible to meet certain requirements/terms defined in this Law, the right to determine, by a decree, electoral events and timeframes for upcoming elections/polling, and to submit a proposal, if necessary, to the President of Georgia for fixing another date of elections according to this Law;
d) define, by an ordinance, the conditions and procedures for giving appropriate information to accused/convicted persons eligible to vote in penitentiary institutions;
e) establish, by an ordinance, electoral districts and/or specify their boundaries, as determined under this Law;
f) have, where necessary to solve the issues defined by this Law, the right to create a special group by an ordinance adopted by at least two-thirds of the total number of members, define the powers and the term of the group;
g) have, if any lower election commission does not or cannot fulfil the obligations under the legislation of Georgia, the right to terminate the powers of the commission by ordinance adopted by at least two-thirds of the total number of members and create an interim group to be responsible for exercising the powers until a new commission is established;
h) define, by an ordinance, a schedule for electoral events according to the timeframes defined by this Law;
i) call, by an ordinance, extraordinary elections, re-run elections, by-elections, repeat voting, and second round of elections;
j) verify, on its own initiative or based on an application/complaint, under the procedure determined in this Law for resolution of electoral disputes, the legality of decisions and acts of election commissions and their officials, and if any violation is identified, cancel or change the decisions and acts by its ordinance; decide, by an ordinance, on opening of packages from the respective PEC and re-counting of ballot papers/lists of voters. If ballot papers are re-counted, the CEC shall notify thereof all the electoral subjects and observer organisations whose representatives attended the counting of ballot papers at an electoral precinct, and shall ensure, upon request, the attendance of their representatives at the re-counting process;
j1) define, by an ordinance, the quota of members to be nominated by political parties in the Election Panel;
j2) approve, by an ordinance, members of the Election Panel under the procedure established by the Constitution of Georgia and this Law;
j3) register, by an ordinance, a candidate for President of Georgia;
k) based on summary protocols of polling results of DECs and PECs, considering the final decision of the court about violations of the electoral legislation of Georgia, determine results of elections of the Parliament of Georgia (under party lists), elections of Tbilisi Sakrebulo held under the proportional election system, elections of the Mayor of Tbilisi, and of a referendum/plebiscite, on which a CEC summary protocol of the election results shall be drawn up;
k1) determine results of the Presidential elections of Georgia, on which a CEC summary protocol of the Georgian Presidential Election results shall be drawn up;
l) grant, by an ordinance, an election/referendum/plebiscite the status of observer to a non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entity defined in this Law, as well as to an international organisation, an organisation registered in another country, and a group of representatives of government agencies of another country;
m) determine, by a decree, the procedure for distributing and utilizing state funds allocated for holding an election, referendum, and plebiscite;
m1) define, by an ordinance, the number of auxiliary and technical personnel for the DECs and the minimal and maximal amounts of their official salaries;
m2) approve, by a decree, the statute of the CEC advisory group;
n) determine, by an ordinance, the form of election/referendum/plebiscite ballot papers; texts of ballot papers for parliamentary elections of Georgia, presidential elections of Georgia, mayoral and Sakrebulo elections of Tbilisi, and for a referendum/plebiscite; types of election boxes, election envelopes, and election commission seals; types of electoral documents that are not covered by this Law but are essential for organizing elections;
o) be accountable to the Parliament of Georgia and submit a report to it within 60 days after summarising results of each election;
p) ensure computer processing of polling/election results received from DECs and provide their immediate posting on the CEC website, and if a decision is made according to subparagraph j) of this paragraph, post the decision on the CEC website as well;
q) manage the activities of DECs and hear their reports from time to time;
r) ensure publication of information materials on its official website and their distribution;
s) adopt, by a decree, the regulations for certification of Electoral Administration officers and competitions for selecting CEC staff members and DEC members;
t) ensure monitoring of training conducted by LEPL Centre for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms, and Training;
u) consider election-related applications and complaints under the procedure established by this Law, and make an appropriate decision within its authority, including, when there is an appropriate ground for it, make a decision to dismiss an application/complaint without prejudice;
v) be responsible for creating a unified list of voters, for its computer processing, and for posting on the CEC official website the information designated as public (first name, last name; photo; date of birth; address as specified in the identity card of a citizen of Georgia; for internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the occupied territories of Georgia – an actual address as well; for individuals registered without indication of address, individuals removed from registration according to the place of residence and those whose registration has been declared invalid by decision of the Agency – the address of their actual residence; the date of registration of a voter in the unified list of voters). The lists of voters belonging to ethnic minorities in the electoral precinct shall also be posted on the CEC official website during the election period in the language that they understand;
w) determine, by a decree, an additional rule for making a unified list of voters and polling procedures;
w1) be authorised to determine, by a decree, conditions and procedures for the submission of applications via electronic means by electoral subjects, observer organisations and observers appointed by such observer organisations, representatives of media and mass media, for the conduct of election registration/accreditation, the submission of applications by representatives of parties/electoral subjects via electronic means for the appointment of the commission members and representatives, and other matters related to the election procedures except for those related to the polling day;
x) approve, by an ordinance, upon recommendation of the CEC Chairperson, a staff list and a cost estimate;
x1) establish, by an ordinance, the procedure for using and fuelling vehicles in private possession by employees of the Elections Administration of Georgia and Legal Entity under Public Law called the Centre of Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings;
y) approve, by a decree, the procedures and conditions for special training of PEC members;
y1) determine, by a decree, conditions for the premature exoneration of DEC and PEC members from a disciplinary liability;
z) determine, by an ordinance, the form for reporting on expenses related to DEC elections/referenda;
z1) maintain database for the election commission members who violated the electoral legislation of Georgia and the violation was confirmed by court, who were dismissed from the Electoral Administration office by an election commission or court for violating the electoral legislation of Georgia, and who were imposed disciplinary liability measures for culpable non-performance or improper performance of their official duties;
z2) approve, by a decree, the regulations of the LEPL – Centre for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms, and Trainings;
z3) adopt, by a decree, the Code of Ethics for the Electoral Administration officers;
z4) approve, by an ordinance, a budget statement of the Electoral Administration of Georgia for the next year;
z5) approve, by an ordinance, strategic and annual action plans of the Electoral Administration of Georgia;
z6) determine, by an ordinance, the conditions and procedure for holding of elections in the Armed Forces units of Georgia dislocated abroad;
z61) approve, by a decree, the additional procedure for completing and checking the list of supporters;
z62) elect, by an ordinance, representatives of the CEC and define their powers;
z63) when different elections are held at the same time, determine, by an ordinance, the additional procedure and time limits for defining the sequence number of an electoral subject;
z64) not later than the 57th day before the Georgian Parliamentary Election day, define, by an ordinance, the list of facilities having the right to conduct drug testing;
z7) determine, by an ordinance, a minimum number of signatures of supporters for the candidates nominated by an initiative group of voters;
z71) determine, by an ordinance, members of the Election Panel, who are nominated by respective political parties from among the members of municipality representative bodies according to the quota determined by this Law;
z72) exercise other powers vested by this Law.
2. All CEC decrees shall be published in the Legislative Herald of Georgia (‘Sakartvelos Sakanonmdeblo Matsne’) and may also be published through other media. A CEC ordinance relating to the issues defined in paragraph 1(f-l) of this article shall be published within three days after they are adopted.
3. The CEC shall also be authorised to adopt a decree on the issues falling within its authority, and regarding the election and other procedures that are not covered by this Law and/or other legislative acts.
Organic Law of Georgia No 2093 of 7 March 2014 – website, 14.3.2014
Organic Law of Georgia No 3562 of 1 May 2015 – website, 18.5.2015
Organic Law of Georgia No 4392 of 27 October 2015 – website, 11.11.2015
Organic Law of Georgia No 4706 of 23 December 2015 – website, 8.1.2016
Organic Law of Georgia No 5438 of 22 June 2016 – website, 12.7.2016
Organic Law of Georgia No 168 of 21 December 2016 – website, 28.12.2016
Organic Law of Georgia No 1274 of 26 July 2017 – website, 29.7.2017
Organic Law of Georgia No 3269 of 21 July 2018 – website, 27.7.2018
Organic Law of Georgia No 3266 of 21 July 2018 – website, 13.8.2018
Organic Law of Georgia No 6723 of 2 July 2020 – website, 3.7.2020
Organic Law of Georgia No 6854 of 15 July 2020 – website, 28.7.2020
Organic Law of Georgia No 703 of 28 June 2021 – website, 29.6.2021
