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876th Plenary Meeting of the Permanent Council

876th Plenary Meeting of the Permanent Council

876th Plenary Meeting of the Permanent Council

876th Plenary Meeting of the Permanent Council

At the request of Georgian authorities, the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (“the Venice Commission”) of the Council of Europe and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (“OSCE/ODIHR”) have prepared the present opinion on the draft Election Code of Georgia (“the draft Code”). The most recent previous joint opinion of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR is dated 9 June 2010 and contains comments on amendments up to March 2010. This Joint Opinion contains commentary and recommendations on the Code as drafted through 22 November 2011 and based on draft revised amendments sent by the authorities to the Venice Commission on 8 December 2011. Additionally, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR are aware that additional amendments were prepared on 10 December; these amendments, however, are not commented upon in this review.

Report by the High Commissioner on National Minorities, Ambassador Knut Vollebaek. Report by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, Ambassador Lubomir Kopaj. Human rights situation in the United States of America. Report by the OSCE Moscow Mechanism Rapporteur, Professor Emmanuel Decaux (statements by the Delegation of the Czech Republic, also on behalf of a group of countries, by the Delegation of the Russian Federation, by the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, by the Delegation of the United States of America, by the Delegation of Switzerland, also on behalf of Liechtenstein, by the Delegation of Canada, and by the Delegation of Belarus annexed).

On 24 August 2011, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe asked the Venice Commission to provide an opinion on the question of which improvements should be made to electoral legislation and practice in Albania in the light of recent experience. The present Opinion has been prepared jointly by the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR on the basis of comments by Mr Pieter van Dijk (member of the Venice Commission, the Netherlands), Mr Oliver Kask (member, Estonia), Mr Konrad Olszewski (expert of the Venice Commission, Poland) and Ms Marianna Skopa (expert, OSCE/ODIHR).

"Sharing knowledge and experiences between the OSCE participating States and Asian Partners for Co operation — Co-operation to address common challenges” Tokyo, Japan, 10 – 11 June 2009