Electronic voting for new Prosecutorial Council members lauded as “step forward”

The Prosecutor’s Conference of Georgia on Tuesday elected five new members in the Prosecutorial Council, a 15-member independent body in charge of selecting candidates for the position of the country’s Prosecutor General, through electronic vote, with the Prosecutor General Irakli Shotadze celebrating the development as a “step forward” for the body.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said the voting had been held following agreement on the electronic voting during the previous Conference, with Shotadze welcoming the election as a “very important move for efficiency, transparency, saving time and human resources”, before extending his gratitude to the country’s Central Election Commission and his body’s internal commission for ensuring the novelty. 

Shotadze also said the Council - tasked to ensure the independence and transparency of the Office, with its 15 members also involved in disciplinary prosecution of deputy Prosecutor Generals, encouragement and promotion of prosecutors and their disciplinary issues, as well as hiring of new employees and determining strategies - was “one of the key achievements” of reforms launched in his body in 2015. 

Saying he was “proud” to be one of the initiators of the reforms, Shotadze claimed they had strengthened the self-government of prosecutors, and promoted the body throughout Europe. 

Today, discussions are going on in many countries about the creation of similar collegial management bodies", he added. 

Eight of 15 members of the Council are prosecutors elected by the Prosecutors' Conference in a secret ballot for four-year-terms. 

The event was attended by domestic and foreign officials, along with representatives of local and international organisations, the Prosecutor’s Office said.