Consortium Legal Aid Georgia (LAG)

State of Emergency in the Country

Elections and a brief Constitutional analysis

What you need to know during the State of Emergency in connection with the Elections!

According to the Constitution of Georgia -, every citizen of Georgia has the right to participate in

the elections of the state, autonomous republic and local self-government bodies from the age

of 18. (Constitution of Georgia Article: 24)

According to the same Constitution, in particular Article 37, the next parliamentary elections will

be held on the last Saturday of October in the calendar year, after expiration of the mandate of

the existing Parliament. (If the President of Georgia has not issued a special decree on State

Emergency and/or Martial Law /hostilities).

The President of Georgia shall appoint elections to the Parliament and local self-government

bodies in accordance with the rules established by the Constitution and organic law.

In addition, it is noteworthy that if the date coincides with the State of Emergency or Martial

Law, it won’t held in the usual manner prescribed, but the Elections are held after State of

Emergency has been abolished no less than 45 and no later than 60 days.

General Elections are not held during a State of Emergency or War. In case of a State of

Emergency in any part of the country, the decision on holding Elections in the rest of the country

is made by decision of the Parliament. (Constitution of Georgia Article: 71)

It is noteworthy that according to the Constitution of Georgia, a special board of the highest

state bodies exclusive competence belongs to: State defense, military industry and arms trade;

War and peace issues; Establishing and introducing a special legal regime for

Emergencies and Wars.

Consortium Legal aid Georgia (LAG)
State of Emergency in the Country
Facts and Short Legal Analysis

1. According to the Article 7 of the Constitution of Georgia, only the special administration of the highest state institutions of Georgia are authorized to introduce the State of Emergency covering entire territory or specific part of the country.
2. According to Article 71 of the State Constitution, during a state of emergency, the President of Georgia is authorized by the force of special decree to restrict rights listed in the 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 21st and 26st articles of the Constitution.
3. Following to the Constitution of Georgia, on December 11, 1997, the Parliament adopted the specific normative act which is “The Law of Georgia on the State of Emergency”.
- As per the Law on State of Emergency - " Situations of Emergency is a temporary measure, which in accordance with the legislation of Georgia is
declared in the interests of ensuring the security of Georgian citizens, during a man-made disaster or epidemic, or in other cases where state authorities are deprived the opportunity to exercise their constitutional powers properly.”
- According to this law, the country's state of emergency aims to speed up the normalization of the situation in the Country, and the restoration of the rule of law.

4. In addition, the Constitution sets out the conditions under which and when a State of Emergency should be imposed in the country, and it is the President of the country who submits a special decree to the Parliament on “Decision of Imposing State of Emergency in the Country”, which is approved by Parliament within 48 hours by a majority votes of its full members.

The table below describes the legal acts issued by the President of Georgia and the Prime Minister on the introduction of the state of emergency, in accordance with the Constitution of Georgia and the Law on State of Emergency of Georgia.

Based on and in connection with the state of emergency in the whole territory of Georgia, also in view of the mass spread of the new coronavirus (COVID19), taking into account the growing challenges faced by the country, the recommendations declared by World Health Organization
(WHO) about the pandemic, and in order for the state to fulfill its constitutional obligation to ensure public security in a democratic society, mitigate the disaster for population, and manage the situation, the state of emergency has been declared in the following normative acts:

Date - 21.03.2020
Issued by - Decree #1 issued by President of Georgia
Geographic - Whole territory of Georgia
Validity Period - From March 21, 2020 up to April 21, 2020

Date - 21.03.2020
Issued by - Order #1 issued by President of Georgia
Geographic - Whole territory of Georgia
Validity Period - From March 21, 2020 up to April 21, 2020

Date - 21.03.2020
Issued by - Ordinance #5864-ss issued by Parliament of Georgia
Geographic - Whole territory of Georgia
Validity Period - From March 21, 2020 up to April 21, 2020

Date - 31.03.2020
Issued by - Decision #205 issued by Government of Georgia
Geographic - Whole territory of Georgia
Validity Period - From March 31, 2020 up to April 21, 2020

In addition, we would like to list the restrictions imposed by the Interagency Coordination Council on (COVID19) pandemic to prevent mass proliferation:

1. Schools and study institutes has stopped;
2. Recruitment to the army;
3. A large number of public servants have been transferred to remote operation and electronic service delivery mode;
4. The same recommendation was made to the private sector;
5. Gradually, both air and land traffic were restricted, banned the entry of persons of foreign nationals in Georgia;
6. Quarantine procedures have been established, control over self-isolation protection has been tightened;
7. Ski resorts were closed;
8. Banned movement of mini-busses;
9. Suspended various types of large-scale events - both cultural and sports;
10. Recommendations for the closure of facilities besides food and pharmacy, banking and delivery services were issued;

All this actions were aimed to reduce further the first stage of the virus spread, mostly imported from the foreign countries.

It is important to know that all individuals and legal entities are required to follow a state of emergency. Otherwise the state of emergency regime violation aims to:
Administrative liability - a fine of 3,000 GEL for individuals and 15,000 GEL for legal entities; The same actions repeatedly lead to criminal liability, in particular, the term of imprisonment up to 3 years. Law enforcement agencies are obliged to use coercive measures envisaged by the legislation of Georgia in order to protect the regime and in the same time maintain the stability announced during the state of emergency !!!

The government has set up a special website - www.stopcov.ge - to inform the public about pandemic (COVID19).
#StopCoV

Consortium Legal Aid Georgia (LAG)

Special Announcement!!!

As the preventive measure of (COVID 19) pandemic worldwide and following the State of Emergency

imposed by the Georgian Government on March 21, 2020 LAG Consortium acknowledging adequate and

imminent actions by the Government in fighting the pandemic, makes decision to temporarily cease

down activities in frames of ongoing projects, suspend operations of the field offices and move to

distance mode of operations.

Meanwhile, we continuously provide online (Facebook, e-mail, phone) legal counseling for our

beneficiaries, especially for vulnerable groups, elderly people and those in self-isolation.

These restrictions are imposed for security of our beneficiaries and all the staff members involved in the

project implementation.

#StopCoV

In August, 2019, Consortium Legal Aid Georgia (LAG) and its implementing partners launched the series of trainings on Legal Basics for Parliamentary and Local Self-Government Elections. The Electoral trainings are organized for IDPs living in Collective Centers in Borjomi, Kutaisi and Zugdidi Municipality. The Electoral trainings are organized in the framework of the "Foster Democracy through Electoral Participation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Georgia" project. The project is funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) and aims at to increase awareness of electoral processes and to create an informed type of participation for IDPs in Georgia.