A Delegation of representatives of the, the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova, Centre for Continuous Electoral Training (CICDE) and the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova conducted a study visit in Georgia between the 12th and 16th of June 2017.
The study visit was focused on learning the experience of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia and the CEC Training Center regarding organization of training, information and civic education activities. Also, participants learned about the good practices of collaboration between the Georgian Parliament and Election Administration of Georgia.
During the study visit Moldovan delegation met with the chairperson, deputy chairperson and members of Central Election Commission of Georgia as well as with heads of the legal and legal maintenance departments, director, staff and beneficiaries of the Training Centre; heads of district election commissions from Rustavi and Gardabani regions.
The Moldovan delegation was particularly interested in certification of electoral officials and one of the civic education projects implemented in 2016, namely: Electoral Development Schools for young people aged 18-25. It is a 10 days training program for about 680 young people, implemented with the support of the Council of Europe and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
Additional to the meetings with the Central Electoral Commission and Training Center Moldovan delegation met with the member of Georgian parliament, first deputy chairperson of foreign relations committee, Mrs. Nino Goguadze, and discussed cooperation of the electoral authorities with the legislative body and the importance of the support of the parliament to the proposals to improve the legal framework formulated by the Central Electoral Commission, which are later transposed into amendments to the Electoral Code.
As next steps, based on Georgian experience learned during the study visit the CEC/CICDE plans to formulate proposals for amending the Electoral Code with regards to creation of the regional representatives of CEC/CICDE in the region and mandatory certification of the District Electoral Commission members and to develop and implement civic education programs proved to be efficient, such as "Electoral Development Schools".
The study visit was organized under the program of Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus, a project funded by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe.
