GD political council supports president’s pick as new head of Supreme Court
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, March 10
One of the leaders of the Georgian Dream coalition Davit Saganelidze states that his party’s Political Council supports the president’s pick for the post of the Chairperson of the Supreme Court, Nino Gvenetadze.
According to him, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili revealed his support of the candidate.
Following the solution Political Secretary of the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia Party Armaz Akhvlediani stated that if the party MPs do not obey the decision, sanctions might be imposed on them.
Majority MPs Dimitri Khundadze and Zakaria Kutsnashvili have demanded an apology from Akhvlediani for the statement.
Kutsnashvili, who was also named among the 28 candidate for the head of the Supreme Court, stated that Akhvlediani exceeded his powers and offended several MPs.
“MPs are elected by people and they are free in their choices,” Kutsnashvili said, noting that the Political Council should not have made such a solution over Gvenetadze, as there were no consultations with other factions.
Kutsnashvili plans to make a special statement regarding the issue in the coming days.
Commenting on the controversy, Saganelidze said that there were no talks on sanctions against the MPs during the Political Council’s sitting.
President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili named former Judge of the Supreme Court Nino Gvenetadze as his candidate for the post on February 17, 2015.
Dr. Gvenetadze, 51, is a researcher at Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Germany. She is also head of the Masters and PhD programs at the School of Law at the Tbilisi-based Georgian American University.
Gvenetadze needs 76 votes to be accepted on the post.
The opposition United National Movement (UNM) will not vote for her. The party claims that Gvenetadze was part of the Shevardnadze period staff, and was also affiliated with the Republican Party.
