Davit Usupashvili comments on the procedure of electing the Public Defender
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, September 9, 2022
Lelo MP Davit Usupashvili discussed the changes in the regulations regarding the procedure for electing the public defender in an interview with reporters.
"The government's plan is to create an image of support for the opposition candidate, it will be the same as when Salome Zourabichvili was an independent candidate during the presidential elections. We will not participate in this hypocrisy," he said.
According to MP Usupashvili, the majority introduced worse points in the draft in the second reading than in the first reading.
"Lelo supported the bill in the first reading yesterday and proposed to the government to take a one-week pause, to fix a lot of things, clear the fog that accompanies these records, and take steps together. Instead, the government insisted that we accept it now as if it were one and two weeks that destroy a country.
In the second reading, compared to the first reading, worse points were found written in the regulations, namely, that according to the current legislation, a faction and a political group can present a candidate separately, together, in consultation with others, etc. Now the government advises us that the chairman of the parliament will select a 9-member commission, which will assign points to those who want to be candidates, that is, those who want to be candidates will be numbered by points.
It is necessary that 7 candidates are nominated by already selected factions and political groups, this means that political groups are deprived of the right to support each other's candidates so that the "Dream" has the opportunity to choose at least one of the 7. In other words, the candidate they want will be nominated by some opposition group close to them, there will be 6-7 others, and choosing any one of them and supporting them will create a bulwark of democracy. We tell them that we will not follow you in these games because we do not know how those 9 men will be selected and how they will evaluate, how these points will be written," Usupashvili said.
The draft amendments to the regulations regarding the procedure and procedures for electing a new public defender were unanimously adopted by the Parliament in the second reading - with 80 votes.
In contrast to the voting in the first reading, the deputies of "National Movement", "Strategy Agmashenebeli" and "Lelo" did not support the draft legislative amendments prepared by "Georgian Dream" in the second reading.
