Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Irakli Kobakhidze, accused the opposition of waging a campaign against EU candidate status.

In the Tavisupali Khedva (Free Vision) program of the GPB’s First Channel, Kobakhidze stated the opposition wanted to sabotage the vote to elect members of the High Council of Justice (HCoJ).

Kobakhidze added that the opponents have failed to nominate their candidates for the last 12 months, and they did not want to support 15 candidates nominated by the parliamentary majority either.

The GD Chair said the vote might take place every day this week, even on May 17, and urged the opposition to vote.

“We say that all 15 candidates deserve HCoJ membership. Twenty-nine candidates will be put for a ballot, and we will vote pro or con. We will document our viewpoint. The opposition could do the same. The voting may fail, but society will see their attitude toward the process that aims to receive candidate status,” he said.

Kobakhidze claimed that the majority is open to talks in any format to see if there is “room for consensus.”

According to the GD Chair, if the vote fails, the selection process will resume in September, saying there is still time for candidates to be selected.