Ruling party head vows “appropriate” approach in electing Public Defender if opposition presents “acceptable candidates”

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.