The Prosecutorial Council will today begin consultations for selecting candidates for the position of Prosecutor General of Georgia.

According to General Prosecutor’s Office, consultations will reportedly be held with academic circles, law professionals and civil society representatives.

The General Prosecutor’s Office explains that the consultations aim to ensure maximum openness and transparency of the Prosecutor General’s election as well as to reveal the candidates who enjoy the confidence and support of the academic community, professional circles, and the non-governmental sector. The Prosecutor’s Office says the process is the best way for the Prosecutorial Council to make the final choice between decent and highly trusted candidates.

“Under Article 16 of the Georgian Organic Law on Prosecutor, the Prosecutor General may be a citizen of Georgia with higher legal education and with no record of convictions, who due his/her moral and professional qualities has high reputation and who has at least five years’ experience of working as a judge reviewing criminal cases, or as a prosecutor or as a criminal lawyer, or has at least 10 years’ experience of working in the legal profession and is at the same time a recognized specialist in criminal law from a higher institution or a civil society organization.

Based on the consultations, the Prosecutorial Council shall select at least three candidates for the Prosecutor General position where at least one third has to be of a different gender.

The candidates for the Prosecutor General position shall be voted for individually at the meeting of the Prosecutorial Council. The voting shall be secret. The candidate who receives more votes but at least two-thirds of the full composition of the Prosecutorial Council shall be deemed elected.

If votes are equally divided between two or more candidates, the chairperson of the Prosecutorial Council shall have the casting vote. If none of the candidates receives the required number of votes, the two candidates with the best results shall be put to vote in the second round. If yet neither of the candidates receives the support of two-thirds of the full composition of the Prosecutorial Council, the Prosecutorial Council shall start new consultations within one week.

The Prosecutorial Council shall present the selected candidate to the Parliament of Georgia, which elects the Prosecutor General of Georgia by a majority of the total composition. If the candidate nominated to the Parliament of Georgia fails to receive the required number of votes of the MPs, the Prosecutorial Council shall select other candidates as prescribed by law,” General Prosecutor’s Office said.

The post of General Prosecutor was left vacant after General Prosecutor Shalva Tadumadze was approved as Judge of Supreme Court of Georgia by the parliament on December 12 with 89 votes for and 0 – against. His duties are performed by Giorgi Badashvili.