Three opposition groups to support ombudsperson’s candidacy offered by NGOs

The United National Movement, Strategy Agmashenebeli and the Lelo opposition parties said on Tuesday that they would support the candidate for the country’s Public Defender offered by the civil sector, refusing to attend a working group meeting, had initiated by the ruling party, on the matter earlier today, as the consensus on the rules selecting and approving the public advocate is one of the 12 conditions for Georgia’s EU candidacy. 

“We are ready to get involved in a very important working process with non-governmental organizations and support the candidate they will represent. We are also ready to get involved in formal meetings, discussions at the bureau and committees. We  do not  see the point of attending the working group”, – said the UNM MP Khatia Dekanoidze. 

Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of Strategy Agmashenebeli, said that the party would wait for the candidates selected by the NGOs and choose the one they will support.

“We fully trust the process initiated by the civil sector.  We have nothing to discuss at the informal meeting with the Georgian Dream,” he said.

Georgian Dream MP Mikheil Sarjveladze noted that the candidate should not be selected only by the non-governmental sector.

Fellow MP of the party, Mamuka Mdinaradze, stressed that the opposition was “interested” in hampering Georgia’s EU integration process through not attending the working group meeting.  

According to the regulations of the Parliament, factions and a group of no less than seven members of non-factional parliament members present the candidate for the Public Defender.

The current ombudwoman Nino Lomjaria’s six-year term expires in December of this year. 

The approval of the new public advocate needs the support of 90 MPs in the 150-member state legislature, which means that the ruling party will need the support of the opposition in the process.