Ruling party head vows “appropriate” approach in electing Public Defender if opposition presents “acceptable candidates”
Kobakhidze said the party would take an “appropriate” approach “if the opposition presents candidates that are acceptable to the majority and the opposition at the same time”. Photo: Georgian Dream Press Office
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Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday said the ruling team was ready to “once again” concede the task of selecting candidates for the country’s new Public Defender to the domestic opposition.
Kobakhidze said the party would take an “appropriate” approach “if the opposition presents candidates that are acceptable to the majority and the opposition at the same time”.
“It is their constitutional duty not to elect Giorgi Burjanadze or Ana Abashidze, who insulted supporters of Georgian Dream, to the position of the Public Defender”, the GD official said in reference to the subject of possible nominees for the position.
Kobakhidze noted consultations for electing the new Ombudsperson would resume in the Parliament, after the previous rounds of discussions over nominees in December failed to result in an agreement between the majority and the opposition.
The main thing is that the opposition shows a minimally constructive approach. We will act with a similar approach. We are ready to give the privilege of selecting candidates back to the opposition, but they should be guided by appropriate criteria”, he said.
Selection of an “unbiased” Public Defender is one of the 12 conditions outlined by the European Union for granting Georgia a membership candidate status.
The approval will require at least 90 votes in the 150-member Parliament, which means the ruling party - which currently has 75 MPs - and the opposition need to cooperate for the selection.
Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Committee on Human Rights, on Saturday said the domestic opposition was “fully responsible” for the failure of the Public Defender election.
Georgian Parliament on Thursday failed to elect the Chair and members of the country’s Central Election Commission after the candidates proposed by President Salome Zourabichvili did not receive support from MPs.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said “many people” in the domestic opposition had been “ready for a consensus” in agreeing on a candidate for the next Public Defender, but added the process had failed in the Parliament due to an “ultimatum from NGOs”, and called the development a “sad reality”.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday, announced that the party would not be presenting a candidate for the position of Public Defender, and the nomination of a candidate would be “completely entrusted” to the opposition and civil sector.
The Citizens opposition party will nominate one of its leaders Levan Ioseliani for the position of the new Public Defender of Georgia, the party revealed on Tuesday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday praised Levan Ioseliani, an opposition MP from the Citizens party, as a “worthy” nominee to become the country’s new Public Defender.
The Georgian Parliament on Tuesday supported the candidacy of Levan Ioseliani, an opposition MP from the Citizens party, for the position of the Public Defender of Georgia, in a move that concluded a delayed period of candidate selection and vote for the position.