Nika Simonishvili: Candidates for CEC chairmanship are associated with elections that caused great distrust - commission made a very bad and low-standard decision
According to Nikoloz Simonishvili, chairman of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, two candidates nominated for the vacant post of chairperson of the Central Election Commission - Giorgi Kalandarishvili and Giorgi Santuriani - will not gain a high public and political consensus.
Simonishvili told Interpressnews about it.
As the GYLA Chairman noted, the commission set up by the President "made a very bad, low-standard decision" regarding these candidates.
"GYLA, TI, ISFED and IDFI have not supported any candidate for the chairmanship. For some of the candidates, there were direct question marks regarding independence, and for others, it was the issue of qualifications. As for the two selected candidates - Giorgi Kalandarishvili and Giorgi Santurian, they held a high position in the Central Election Commission during the 2020 elections and are associated with the elections, which caused a great deal of public distrust. These people cannot gain high social and political consensus. Therefore, the decision of the Commission was not correct and reasoned. In my opinion, the Commission made a very bad, low standard decision regarding them.
As for the membership candidates, I personally and my colleagues supported three candidates - Lela Taliuri, Tamara Sartania and Ana Mikeladze. As for the other two, we did not support them. With regard to one candidate - Maia Zaridze, I have serious questions, in particular, about her independence. As for Gia Tsatsashvili, he made a good impression during the interview, but I also had some doubts about him, so I could not decide to trust him", - Simonishvili said.
For reference, the commission set up by the President has selected two candidates for the vacant position of CEC Chairperson, current CEC employees, Head of the Human Resources Department - Giorgi Kalandarishvili and Head of the Legal Department - Giorgi Santuriani. In addition, the commission also selected 5 candidates for the vacant positions of CEC members - Ana Mikeladze, Tamara Sartania, Lela Taliuri, Maia Zaridze and Gia Tsatsashvili.
For the record, the President shall submit the candidacies to the Parliament within 3 days, and the Parliament must make a decision within a week after the submission.
