Tamar Zhvania becomes 1st re-elected as head of Georgian Central Election Commission

Tamar Zhvania, who has chaired the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) since 2013, has become the first in the history of independent Georgia who was re-elected to the post.

Today, after the nomination of three candidates by the Georgian president, majority of the CEC commission members voted for Zhvania.

12 commission members should have participated in the voting. However, the opposition members of the commission and Zhvania herself refused to cast their votes.

The reason named for the refusal by the members of the United National Movement and the European Opposition members was that “Zhvania is affiliated with the Georgian Dream ruling team.”

Finally nine members of the commission took part in the procedure and Zhvania received eight votes.

His opponent from the civil sector Lado Bozhadze received one vote and another opponent from the governmental administration Mariam Shelegia- no votes.

In 2017 Zhvania was awarded the Joe C. Baxter award of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) for supporting electoral processes.

Zhvania has chaired the CEC since 2013, under the Georgian Dream leadership.

Before that she served as a project manager of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and chaired the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED).

Under Zhvania’s leadership, the CEC has won two international awards - one set by the ICPS for election management in 2015, and another for the inclusion of minorities in the election process at the 13th International Electoral Affairs Symposium in 2016.