Finance of Political Parties –

Legislative proposal

Tbilisi, 2 March, 2012

Gaps in acting legislation :

• Restrictions on constitutional rights and freedoms;

• Ambiguous norms and non-existence of procedural guaranties;

• Possibility of broad interpretation of norms and unlimited competence of the Chamber of Control;

• Unreasonable restrictions and sanctions;

• Grave and unjustified liability on voters;

Legislative proposal ensures:

• Protection of constitutional rights;

• Clear and unambiguous formulation that restricts discretion of the Chamber of Control;

• Due procedure to make decision;

• Filling of gaps concerning donation of parties;

• Adequate sanctions for violations.

“Associated person”

Financial restrictions provided for parties will be applied to:

a)A person, who has declared his/her electoral goals and bears expenses for these goals, except for the donations made within the limits established by the law;

b)A person, who throughout the year contributes not legal donations worth total of 200,000 GEL.

The Procedure for Applying of Limitations

• Participation of the person in the decision making process is guaranteed;

• A Person is entitled to appeal the decision of the Chamber of Control of Georgia;

• CCG is authorized to request financial documents on the bases of the reasonable doubt;

• The limitations shall be in effect until the end of elections;

• CCG can change the decision upon request or its own judgment.

Donation

Any monetary means provided and/or any material value or service provided free of charge or at discount/preferential terms to

support a party or a person or not to do so shall be considered as a donation.

Procedure for Seizure the Property

• The Seizure may be applied only to the extent necessary and if there is a danger of disposal/spending of the property by a person;

• The decision to seizure the property is made by the court;

• The judge shall decide the case within 24 hours;

• The court decision shall be subject to appellate challenge only in appellate court within 48 hours. The Appellate Court shall make a decision within 48 hours which is final and is not subject to further appeal.

Sanctions and limitations:

•Joint limit established for natural persons will be abolished if the income comes from the single source;

•Joint limit on income for the party during the year will be abolished

•Limitation on Independent Single-seat Candidate Expenditure will be set;

Sanctions are becoming more proportionate:

•The fine of 10 fold amount is reduced to triple amount of the received financial or material contributions;

•Property received or issued by the void deal shall no more be transferred to the state budget.

Bribing of Voters• Voters shall not be subject to liability;

• The purpose in narrowed - „for voting for or for refraining from voting for any political entity in elections “;

• The monetary limit is defined: Bribing of voters over 100 GEL shall be punishable;

• Bribing of voters within the limits of 100 GEL cause the administrative liability;

• The liability for bribing of voters is diminished for 1 year;

• A Political party shall be punished only with fine.

Thank You for Attention!