Appointment of deputy head of parliament’s legal affairs committee stirs controversy
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The appointment of Gedevan Pophkadze as the deputy head of parliament’s legal affairs committee has stirred controversy in the Georgian Dream ruling party.
Parliament speaker Irakli Kobakhidze claims that Popkhadze was appointed through violations of mandatory procedures and says that the violation “will be responded” to.
Popkhadze’s candidacy was raised by former head of the committee Eka Beselia together with two other candidates to the post.
Kobakhidze says that Beselia had a right to nominate only one candidate while she nominated three. Beselia dismisses the accusation and says all mandatory procedures were abided by. She advised Kobakhidze to better familiarise himself with legal procedures.
Popkhadze was appointed by seven votes out of 17 committee members. He will have to quit the human rights committee of parliament to take the new post.
Beselia left the position of the chair of the legal affairs committee on December 27 due to the process related to the life appointment of judges.
Head of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee Eka Beselia has quit the post and stated at a briefing today that her decision was related to the “hasty and unacceptable” process of lifetime appointment of judges with a “controversial past” to the Supreme Court of Georgia.
The Georgian Dream ruling party faction has withdrawn Gedevan Popkhadze from the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee which makes it impossible for Popkhadze to take the post of deputy head of the committee, to which he was elected last week.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze has denied any connection between the fact that the Legal Affairs Committee head Eka Beselia and its member Gedevan Popkhadze left the ruling party majority and the controversial process of appointing judges in the country.
Georgian Dream ruling party leaders say that the controversial list of ten judges for the Supreme Court of Georgia will not be discussed in an accelerated manner and discussions around the issue will take place in the spring.
Head of the ruling Georgian Dream party political council and the founder of the party Bidzina Ivanishvili has revealed his view regarding the controversial issue of the nomination of ten judges for the Supreme Court of Georgia at the end of December.
The Georgian Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee has elected former deputy head of the committee David Matikashvili as acting head until the spring session, before the committee launches discussions on the controversial list of judges for the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Georgia Dream ruling party member Eka Beselia, who left the post of the head of the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee at the end of December, says that she is facing a moral terror as footage of her personal life has gone viral.