Parliament has approved, in the first reading, amendments to the rules for nominating and appointing a candidate for the position of Prosecutor General.

The draft law was unanimously passed with 83 votes in favor. According to the amendments, consultations with civil society, academia, and legal experts will no longer be required for selecting candidates for the Prosecutor General’s position. Candidates will be nominated by members of the Prosecutorial Council, with each member having the right to propose a candidate.

According to the proposed amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office, the nomination process for the Prosecutor General within the Prosecutorial Council must be completed within one week.

As stated by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, Archil Gorduladze, the Prosecutorial Council is constitutionally empowered to nominate a candidate for Prosecutor General. However, a lower-level law mandates one month of consultations with representatives of civil society, organizations, and academia, followed by the selection of three candidates. If one of them secures a two-thirds majority vote within the Council, the nomination is submitted to Parliament. Gorduladze emphasized that this procedure itself is problematic.

“In the exercise of a constitutionally granted authority, the involvement of other parties is not appropriate. Therefore, we propose that the Prosecutorial Council carry out its constitutional power without such interference and that each council member have the right to nominate one candidate for Prosecutor General.

The council will hear all nominated candidates. Voting will be open, and the candidate who receives the support of the majority of the full council — and more votes than any other candidate — will be submitted to Parliament,” said Gorduladze.

The bill was initiated by Members of Parliament: Archil Gorduladze, Tornike Cheishvili, Aleksandre Tabatadze, Davit Matikashvili, Rati Ionatamishvili, Aluda Gudushauri, Tengiz Sharmanashvili, Guram Macharashvili, and Akaki Aladashvili.