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Statement of the Campaign It Affects You Too Regarding Consultations with the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament of Georgia

2012-03-20 09:05
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Participants of the campaign It affects You Too welcome the agreement between non-governmental organizations and the legal affairs committee of Parliament of Georgia regarding certain issues, and the commitment of Parliament of Georgia to take into consideration the proposals prepared by civil actors for improving the election environment. According to the agreement that has been reached,

The notion of persons  directly or indirectly related to a political party will be removed from the law;

The Chamber of Control will no longer have the authority to impose restrictions on persons for expressing their political sympathy or antipathy;

Circle of persons that fall under the regulations introduced by the law for political parties will be narrowed and explicitly defined.

Voters will no longer be subject to criminal liability for requesting any inducements from political parties;

A person’s entrepreneurial activities that are not directly linked with electoral goals will no longer be restricted;

The Chamber of Control will no longer have the exclusive authority to sequestrate a property. Sequestration of only the impugned property/sum of money will be allowed and only based on corresponding decision of court;

Amount of fines and sanctions will be reduced;

Registration of political parties will no longer be annulled for violation of the Law on Political Unions.

We remain hopeful that the agreement will be thoroughly incorporated in new amendments adopted by Parliament and the cooperation with the civil society for improving the election environment and applicable legislation in Georgia will continue.

In order to rule out any future violations or abuse of power, it is equally important for the law to be duly enforced and for the Chamber of Control to act within a strictly regulated scope of its activities.

Participants of the campaign It Affects You believe that the agreement was made possible through the common efforts made by the non-governmental sector, media and citizens as well as the support of international society.

We believe that this is the first successful step that has been made, which should be followed by increased civic engagement for creating free and fair environment in the country.