Georgia’s Constitutional Court elects new chairman
Tweet 
Share
Zaza Tavadze, a judge of the Constitutional Court, was today elected as the new chairperson of the Constitutional Court of Georgia.
Tavadze, 41, was supported by five of eight members of the Constitutional Court Plenum. His only opponent, Georgia’s ex-Secretary of the Security Council Irine Imerlishvili, received the other three votes.
Typically the chairperson of the Constitutional Court are elected for five years but Tavadze will serve for only three years and seven months has he will have expired his term in Court.
He has been a judge of the Court since June 2010. Court judges are appointed for a maximum term of ten years and must stand down after this period.
The term of previous Constitutional Court chairperson Giorgi Papuashvili and Court judge Konstantine Vardzelashvili expired at the end of September.
Earlier the President of Georgia named Imerlishvili and his former Parliamentary Secretary Giorgi Kverenchkhiladze as new judges of the Constitutional Court.
Judges of the Constitutional Court are appointed for 10 years; a chairman of the Court is elected for five years.
All three branches of state powers participate in the formation of the Constitutional Court, which is composed of eight judges and a chairperson, on an equal basis:
- 3 members are appointed by the President of Georgia,
- 3 members are elected by the Parliament by not less than three fifths of the 150-seat legislative body.
- 3 members are appointed by the Supreme Court.
More information about the new Constitutional Court chairperson:
- In 1999-2000 Zaza Tavadze was an adviser of the Ministry of Justice's western Imereti Regional Service for local self-governing bodies.
- In 2000-2004 Tavadze was a leading expert on legal issues at the Public Servants Financial and Property Status Bureau of the Ministry of Justice.
- In 2004 he was head of Legal Department of the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation.
- In 2004-2007 he was deputy chairman of Human Resources Department of the Office of Prosecutor General of Georgia.
- From March 2007 until February 2008 he was chairman of the Human Resources Department of the Office of Prosecutor General of Georgia.
- In 2008-2010 he held the position of Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia.
Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili has today named two people who will serve as judges of the country’s Constitutional Court for the next 10 years. He described the new judges as "very highly qualified lawyers”.
The Parliament of Georgia has today approved changes into a bill regarding the Constitutional Court at its third hearing. The bill was adopted with 81 votes in favour and none against.
Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze wants to meet President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Chairman of the Constitutional Court Giorgi Papuashvili to hear details of allegations of pressure being put on the President and his family members, and of judges, by law enforcers.
Authorities meeting in Austria announced Georgia’s Constitutional Court will chair the Conference of European Constitutional Courts for the next three years.
For the first time in the history of Georgia the country will have permanently appointed judges, who will serve in the role till they reach the pension age.
Parliament approved Kobakhidze’s candidacy with 101 votes in favour and 10 against a short time ago. Her confirmation as a judge means her mandate as a Member of Parliament has been annulled.
A regulation allowing the Ministry of Internal Affairs to permanently retain information on a person’s history of administrative offenses has been ruled unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court of Georgia has a new chair, with Merab Turava replacing Zaza Tavadze whose term expired in June. Turava, 56, was the deputy chair of the Constitutional Court from January 2018.