Selection of State Inspector Candidates was made with violations

On June 1, 2019, the competition commission for the election of the State Inspector nominated two candidates - Valery Lomuashvili and Londa Toloraia. GYLA believes that during the selection of the candidates of the State Inspector the commission violated the rule set by the statute, namely:

- The statute of the commission determined the list of the documents to be submitted for the competition, including the obligation to submit a cover letter. In addition, the statute of the commission clearly and distinctly stated that the submitted letter should reflect - a candidate's view on the challenges in the field of the protection of human rights, the measures to be taken up, development of the Institute of State Inspector and improvement of effectiveness. [1]

- Reflecting of the above-mentioned issues in the cover letter was the same obligation as presenting any other document prescribed by the statute. Accordingly, the commission had to move only the candidate/candidates who fully met with the demands of the statute, including in the part of the cover letter at the stage of an interview;

- In the early stage, 48 persons expressed their desire to participate in the competition but only one candidate - Londa Toloraia presented the cover letter prepared according to the statute of the commission. However, by the decision of the majority of the members of the commission, at the next interview stage of the competition 7 candidates were invited instead of one (5 candidates have appeared at the interview);

- The Commission held interviews with candidates on 1 June 2019. Despite the fact that at the interview stage before inviting concrete persons, two members (including chairperson of GYLA), has repeatedly asked the commission to protect the statute, by the decision of the majority of the statute was still violated, and the commission had an interview with one person instead of 5 (the chairperson GYLA in protest at their decision did not participate in the interview process).

GYLA believes that the decision made by the majority of the commission to invite not one (the cover letter presented by whom was complied with the rules prescribed by statute), but also other candidates whose cover letters were presented in violation of the rule defined by the statute, raise the suspicion that the commission has formally conducted the interview. This suspicion is also strengthened  by the fact that in case the commission acted in accordance with the statute and invited only one candidate at interview, it would be necessary to hold a new competition (According to the Law of Georgia on the State Inspector service, the commission must introduce at least 2 candidates to the Prime Minister). Presumably, the rest of the candidates were invited at the interview to avoid holding the competition again and finally, two candidates were introduced to the Prime Minister (Prime Minister has already nominated candidates to be elected to the position of the State Inspector to the Parliament).

Given the above, GYLA calls on the Parliament of Georgia do not support any candidate identified in violation of the statute of the competition commission for the election of the State Inspector.

[1] Paragraph 1 of Article 6 of the statute of competition commission for the election of the State Inspector.