mikheil saakashvili

President Mikheil Saakashvili. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, has presented three candidates for head of the Central Election Commission (CEC).

Saakashvili’s proposed candidates are Tamar Zhvania, Manuchar Gamkrelidze and Konstantine Amirajibi. The candidates were selected after consultations with non-governmental organizations, as is required by procedural rules.

Zhvania is a project manager at UNDP, working with election issues. Amirajibi has several years of experience as a chair of district electoral commissions. Gamkrelidze has worked with organizing elections since 2009 and is coordinating contact between the district election commissions and the Central Election Commission.

Members of CEC will now have five days to elect a new head, otherwise parliament will choose one of Saakashvili’s three proposed candidates.

Former CEC chair, Zurab Kharatishvili, unexpectedly resigned August 12 and a few days later said he would go into politics.