Several members of the UNM removed from the list of the political party

Natia Gogolashvili

On January 6, executive secretary of the United National Movement Sergo Ratiani petitioned to the Central Election Commission to remove some of their party-members from the list. Namely, Sergo Ratiani requested removal of: Nino Kalandadze, Eka Kherkheulidze, Petre Tsiskarishvili, Levan Bezhashvili, Dato Kirkitadze, Nugzar Tsiklauri, Omar Megrelidze and Irakli Nadiradze. The executive secretary clarified the decision with the recent situation in the political party.

As humanrights.ge was told at the CEC, they have not yet held session to discuss the petition that means the above-listed people will be automatically removed from the list of the UNM.

In accordance to the Article 120 Paragraph II of the Election Code, a party participating independently in elections shall be entitled to revoke their decision on the nomination of a candidate for an MP after recognizing the authorities of elected members of the Parliament. Candidacy nominated by the party shall be withdrawn under the ordinance of the CEC based on the application signed by the leader of the party within 3 days of after submission of the application. If the application is not approved within this term, the candidate for an MP shall be deemed as withdrawn from the party list starting from the following day after the expiration of the above term.

Since the UNM executive secretary submitted the petition to the CEC on January 6, today, the abovementioned candidates (Nino Kalandadze, Eka Kherkheulidze, Petre Tsiskarishvili, Levan Bezhashvili, Dato Kirkitadze, Nugzar Tsiklauri, Omar Megrelidze and Irakli Nadiradze) are already removed from the list of the political party.

Sergo Ratiani clarified that the people, who were removed from the list, established  self-proclaimed organization commission, which in fact declared that they bear authority of the political council. “It means, formal pre-condition of the division of the political party was created, when the party is ruled by the organization committee instead the political council and secretariat; the committee was preparing the assembly and it undermined the legitimacy of the upcoming assembly,” Ratiani said.

It is noteworthy that the Party may not revoke its decision on nomination of candidates for MP, whose names remained in the party lists upon termination of the authority of an MP elected from this list until the recognition of the authority of his/ her replacement.