Bill Introduced Requiring International Election Observers in Georgia to Be Foreign Citizens

2026-03-02 - 13:25

A group of MPs in Georgia’s disputed parliament introduced amendments to the Election Code requiring international observers to be foreign citizens, their interpreters to undergo special registration, and giving the Central Election Commission (CEC) authority to set rules for photo, video, and audio recordings at election commission sessions. The Parliament’s Legal Issues Committee approved the amendments in the first reading on March 2. According to the amendments, the Election Code would be updated to stipulate that “the rules for photo, video, and audio recording of a person at the election commission’s session will be determined by decree of the Central Election Commission.” The current version of the law does not mention the CEC’s role in setting recording rules. The amendments also stipulate that an international observer must be a foreign citizen at least 18 years old, while the current law does not specify any citizenship requirement. In addition, the amendments require interpreters to undergo a special registration procedure with the CEC secretary and, together with the observers, submit ID copies. The secretary would then process them and issue a certificate that also serves as a badge. The current version of the law does not require interpreters to undergo this procedure. Levan Natroshvili, director of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, a prominent local election monitor, said allowing a Georgian citizen to join the international monitoring group “has never been problematic,” calling the move to prevent this and the timing of the changes “incomprehensible,” noting that elections are not supposed to take place until 2028 and questions remain about why the change was needed now. The changes follow a broader overhaul of the Election Code in December 2025, when the disputed parliament, among other measures, ended voting rights for Georgians living abroad.