The deadline for contestants to submit an application for membership at the precinct election commissions (PECs) during the 2 April By-election has expired. A total of 1206 applications were registered for the 1048 vacancies announced by the district election commissions (DECs). Among them, 766 applications were submitted for 672 vacancies in Rustavi electoral district, 270 for 264 vacancies in Gardabani, and 170 applications were submitted for 112 vacancies in Batumi.

For the first time, applicants were able to submit their applications through CEC’s new platform. E-platform was launched precisely for the contest announced in PECs. Contestants for membership in both district and precinct election commissions and persons interested in CEC’s educational programs will benefit from this technological innovation to participate in the CEC’s contests. As statistics show, a considerably high number of applicants submitted applications through this platform for the 2 April by-election in the contest called for PEC’s membership. More precisely, 478 applicants used CEC’s technological novelty. While 275 contestants submitted documentation to relevant DEC’s mails; and 453 applicants submitted hard copies to relevant DECs. 85.49% of contestants are female and 14.51% are male.

Please note that a total of 131 polling stations will be staffed for 2 April Parliamentary and Sakrebulo (local council) By-elections, including, 117 in Rustavi and Gardabani, and 14 in Batumi.

Electing process of PECs’ members’ will be held on February 12-15 in relevant DECs. PECs’ members’ electing process is open for authorized persons. We would like to remind local and international organizations and media representatives, that together with other authorized persons, the right to attend relevant sessions will be granted to them only after going through the registration/accreditation process. At this point, 4 local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are registered with the CEC. Once again, we call on observer organizations to register timely, and observe electing process of PEC members in DECs, which is critically important for the transparency and trustworthiness of the process.