Parliament Rejects Nominees for CEC Membership
Parliament voted down on December 11 two candidates, nominated by President Giorgi Margvelashvili for one vacant seat in the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Zurab Khrikadze and Levan Turashvili received 38 and 32 votes, respectively, far short of required at least 76 votes. A candidate receiving more votes than the other, but not less than 76 votes, takes the seat in CEC.
The two candidates were nominated by the president after they were selected among 18 applicants by a commission, consisting of civil society representatives. The president, according to the law, has the right to re-nominate the same candidates.
Although the parliamentary committee for legal affairs also turned down both of the nominees earlier this week, the committee chairman GD MP Vakhtang Khmaladze of the Republican Party voiced his support and said on December 11 that the both candidates “left good impression” by their knowledge of election-related issues.
Unlike candidates for CEC membership, the Parliament endorsed on December 11 with 91 votes Nikoloz Kavelashvili, deputy head of administration of the Ilia State University, as a member of board of the central bank; he also was nominated by President Margvelashvili.
