At the meeting scheduled to take place today, Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia will elaborate on the issue of establishing Precinct Election Commissions (PEC) for the October 26 Parliamentary Elections. As per the legislation, CEC of Georgia was provided with the renewed data of information on the 65 508 individuals, who live abroad and are on the consular registry of Georgia, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Georgia. Based on the data, the issue of establishing the 60 PECs in the 42 foreign countries will be elaborated at today’s meeting.

Notably more PECs will be set up abroad for the October 26, 2024 Parliamentary Elections than were established for the 2020 Parliamentary Elections. Furthermore, PECs will be opened in the foreign countries where none were present during the previous Parliamentary Elections or any other elections. These countries include the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Finland, the republic of Korea, Japan, and the Commonwealth of Australia.

We would like to remind the public that the PECs will be established abroad for no less than 50 and no more than 3 000 voters who are on the consular registry, as provided by the applicable law. Currently, Georgia’s legislation does not outline any regulations in regard to the electoral participation of citizens of Georgia living abroad. However, in the recent period, several attempts were made by certain interested individuals to politicize the issue, shifting it from a legal matter to a political one in an effort to mislead voters. For this reason, we urge stakeholders to refrain from misleading voters due to their political interests, and to foster a healthy electoral environment.

Election Administration of Georgia is committed to ensure that the public is provided with information timely and accurately, and processes are conducted transparently, for eliminating any questions and reasons of manipulations pertaining to various crucial electoral topics.

We will provide the public with detailed information about the today’s meeting results as well as establishment of PECs abroad, once the CEC Meeting is concluded.