GD Chair Pledges to Comply with EU-negotiated deal on Chief Prosecutor Selection
Ruling Georgian Dream party chairperson Irakli Kobakhidze led a briefing to announce the drafting of the law for the election of the Prosecutor General in line with the European Commission’s 12 recommendations in which he emphasized that “against the background of sabotage by the radical opposition, Georgian Dream, is actively working to fulfill the 12 points established by the [EU].”
The ruling party chairperson stated on 1 September, “In order to fulfill this [recommendation], yesterday the Parliamentary majority officiality initiated the draft of the Constitutional law with the exact content that was agreed upon last year based on consultations held between the majority and the parliamentary opposition.”
MP Kobakhidze explained that per that draft law, in its next two convocations, Parliament will elect the Prosecutor General with a 3/5 majority for 6-year term. In the event that a candidate does not receive 3/5 of the votes, the Prosecutor General will be elected by a majority of votes but for a limited, one-year term.
He emphasized that the “draft law agreed with the Parliamentary opposition has no analogs in any country of the world. There is a simple reason for this – its content contradicts the logic of the governance system and elementary legal principles, on which we will not dwell upon today.”
“We will only recall that due to this very reason, according to our decision, the adoption of relevant Constitutional amendments was halted last year,” MP Kobakhidze added.
The ruling party chairperson underscored, however, that since fulfilling the Commission’s recommendations is “a special priority for us, as an exception, we will turn a blind eye to legal principles and accept the new rule for electing the Prosecutor General without any preconditions.”
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