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NGOs Are Requesting the President to Veto the Law on Political Unions of Citizens

December 29, 2011

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NGOs are calling the amendments to Organic Law on Political Unions of Citizens unconstitutional and address the President of Georgia to veto two draft laws.

Following organizations sign the address: Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Transparency International Georgia, Coalition For Freedom of Choice and Open Society Foundation. The representatives of these organizations held a press conference in Tbilisi Marriot today and disseminated a statement.

The statement of NGOs notes that according to amendments, the political unions as well as the legal entities who are connected to the political party directly or indirectly or are under the control of the political party in another way or have declared political goals and objectives are becoming obliged to give back the donations received from the legal entities in three days after the law takes force. Otherwise, the money will transfer to the state property.

NGOs think that this provision contradicts with the article 42 of Georgian Constitution according to which “No one shall held responsible on account of an action which constitute a criminal offence at the time it was committed. The law that neither mitigate nor abrogate responsibility shall have no retroactive force.”

“The article 24 of the Law on the normative acts is also violated according to which the normative act which establishes or increases the weight of responsibility has no retroactive force,” – the statement notes.

According to the statement, the law establishes responsibility for the conduct which did not constitute the offence during the time it was committed and gives retroactive force to the provision which determines responsibility for the conduct occurred in the past.

NGOs consider that the article 261 of the Law on Political Unions of Citizens also violates the constitutional right of freedom of expression.

“Also the amendments made to the Criminal Code according to which unreasonable and disproportionately strict sanctions are determined for the voters who address the individual acting with political objectives to transfer the service or material goods or receive such service for them,” – the statements notes.

NGOs address the President of Georgia not to allow the violation of principles established by Georgian Constitution and guaranteed by principles of international law, use the available constitutional mechanism and return the draft laws with motivated remarks to Georgian Parliament.

If the President does not apply right of veto, the NGOs are going to appeal against the draft law to Constitutional Court. However, according to them, the Constitutional Court has 9 months to examine the complaint which will protract the process.

Political parties and the legal entities related to them will have to return back the money which has not been spent yet. The law on Political Union of Citizens does not explicitly state that new regulations have retroactive power, but following provisions can be interpreted to have such a power.

In the final version of the draft law it was written: “The political unions of citizens and other entities envisaged by part I of article 26/1 of this law who have received financing by violating the regulations set by this law and have not spent these sums for the moment this law takes force are obliged to give back these sums in no later than 3 days term after this law takes force.

This provision of law takes force following its publication. The law will be published after the President signs it. However, some regulations of the law take force on the 15th day following its publication.

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