President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili has offered two candidates for the position of Chair of the Central Election Commission, as well as four more nominees for CEC membership, to the Georgian Parliament.
Kristine Kajaia, Levan Isakadze, Maia Zaridze, and Gia Tsatsashvili were nominated for the two open CEC member positions, with the latter two serving as incumbents.
However, more crucially, the existing CEC chair, Giorgi Kalandarishvili, and Tengiz Tevzadze, the previous head of the local non-profit, were both considered for the position of chairperson.
Between 2012 and 2018, Tevzadze held different posts in central and municipal governments.
Meanwhile, Kalandarishvili, a long-time CEC employee, was the chosen chair for a six-month term in August 2021, just ahead of the October municipal elections. He was unable to obtain the opposition's support, which was required for a supermajority that would guarantee him a complete five-year tenure.
The supermajority requirement was added to the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure in accordance with an April 19 EU-mediated agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition parties, while a six-month appointment rule with a simple majority was adopted as part of an anti-deadlock mechanism.
Even though both nominees (Kalandarishvili and Tevzadze) have positioned themselves as impartial candidates, the opposition has highlighted concerns regarding Kalandarishvili's independence.
Lelo and Strategy Aghmashenebeli, members of the parliamentary opposition, have said that they will vote for Tevzadze in the forthcoming election.
In an interview with Georgian media, Nino Dolidze, the head of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, and Nika Simonishvili, the chair of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, argued that the commission's structure and process favours candidates supported by the authorities and does not allow civil society representatives to have any influence on the final outcome.
Earlier, on December 28, the Georgian President launched the competition, with four candidates for chairpersonship and seven candidates for membership applying. On January 15, the panel approved four membership nominations and three chairmanship candidates – Tevzadze, Kalandarishvili, and Tamaz Poladashvili. The President opted out of the latter.
