Ruling party secretary vows “consensus-oriented” approach to public defender election
In his remarks over the matter, Mdinaradze said the ruling authorities would object if any of the candidates presented by the domestic opposition on the position had been "observed in political activities" . Photo: Georgian Dream Press Office
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Mamuka Mdinaradze, the executive secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the party would be "consensus-oriented" on the issue of the election of a new public defender, reflecting one of the conditions of the European Union for granting the country the membership candidate status.
In his remarks over the matter, Mdinaradze said the ruling authorities would object if any of the candidates presented by the domestic opposition on the position had been "observed in political activities" .
“You know that we will not present a candidate - we left this privilege to the opposition, although we were not obliged to do so, but we did not make it a subject of speculation", he noted on the election of a new ombudsperson.
The only disagreement that could be on our part is if any of the candidates presented by them have been observed so far to be involved not in protection of rights but in political activities”, the GD official said.
Mdinaradze stressed the ruling team had a “greater responsibility" to "somehow try to reach a compromise” to elect the public defender, in order to fulfil one of the conditions of the European Union.
On August 31, Mdinaradze announced the party would not be presenting a candidate for the position of public defender, and the nomination would be “completely entrusted” to the opposition and civil sector.
On September 19, Irakli Kadagishvili, the chair of the rules and procedural issues committee of the parliament of Georgia, said the parliamentary majority and the opposition would find a “worthy” new candidate for the position of the public defender who was “not a representative of a certain political team or course”.