14
THE GEORGIAN LABOUR PARTY v. GEORGIA JUDGMENT
3. If an election is declared ‘not held’, or if the election results are deemed invalid
in a multi-seat electoral district, a repeat election shall be held. If the mandate of the
parliamentarian elected in such a district is suspended before its term, a mid-term
election shall be held.
4. The repeat election shall be held within two months ... The CEC shall set the
election date and time-limits for electoral arrangements by Ordinance no later than
seven days after the initial election ...
7. If an MP who resigns was elected through the party list of a party participating
independently in the elections, the seat of such an MP shall be occupied within one
month by the next candidate on the same list, provided that that candidate agrees to
become an MP within fifteen days of the vacancy arising. Otherwise the vacant seat
shall be occupied by the next candidate on the list, etc. If there is no other candidate
named in the party list, the parliamentary mandate shall be deemed cancelled.”
Unlike the parliamentary election under the majority system, neither
Article 106 nor any other provision of the EC provided for the possibility of
conducting mid-term, repeat or other types of interim polls as under the
proportional system after the countrywide election results had been finalised
by the CEC (see paragraph 118 below).
An amendment to the EC, introducing provisional Articles 128, 128(1)
and 128(2), was enacted on 5 August 2003 for the specific purpose of reforming the CEC for the regular parliamentary election of 2003.
Pursuant to Article 128 § 2, the CEC was to be composed of fifteen
members and its sessions were considered to be valid if attended by more
than half of the members. Article 128 § 3 initially stated that the chairman
of the CEC was to be appointed by Parliament following his or her
nomination by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE). However, this provision was amended on 28 November 2003 and,
under the new rule, the chairman was to be appointed by the President of
Georgia, with the approval of Parliament. Article 128 § 4 further established
that five members of the CEC were also to be appointed by the President.
Pursuant to Article 128 § 5, the remaining nine members of the CEC
were to be appointed as follows:
(a) three members by the party/electoral bloc which had come second in
the parliamentary election of 1999;
(b) two members by the party/electoral bloc which had come third in the
parliamentary election of 1999; and
(c) one member by each of the four parties/electoral blocs which had
obtained the best results in the 2002 local election in Tbilisi, held under the
proportional electoral system, unless that party/electoral bloc was entitled to
appoint a commission member under the preceding sub-paragraphs (a)
and (b).
Pursuant to Articles 128(1) § 2 and 128(2) § 2, the composition of the
DECs and PECs was similar to that of the CEC. The chairman of the DEC
was appointed by the President of Georgia with the approval of Parliament