On June 26, Salome Zourabichvili, the President of Georgia, vetoed the amendments adopted to the "Election Code," which intended to change the procedure for electing the Central Election Commission's (CEC) chairman and members, the Press Office of the Georgian President reported. 

"With the current edition, an independent and non-partisan official, the President of Georgia, announces the competition and creates a candidate selection commission. The President will present the selected candidates to the Parliament. According to the changes, the creation of the commission, the selection, and the presentation of candidates will be done by the chairman of the parliament, and the election will be done by a simple majority of the parliament, which means a one-party decision," the information said.

"Electing the chairman and members with 76 votes instead of 100 eliminates the need for consensus-based decisions and increases the risk of polarization. The veto serves the purpose of maintaining this consensus," it added.

"The president proposes to the parliament that the chairman and members of the CEC should be elected with at least 90 votes, as happened in the case of the public defender. This is necessary to maintain and strengthen trust in elections and election administration," the report stated.

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