The 70-year-old Kostolanská, who was nominated by the Senate and the Czech Rectors’ Conference, was elected by deputies in the second round of secret voting at the beginning of June. In it, she defeated the former government commissioner for human rights, Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková, who had already been nominated by President Petr Pavel.
Kostolanská, who already worked in the office, mentioned her knowledge of the functioning of public administration as her advantage. Before the election, she also mentioned that it would be appropriate to set certain priorities for the office, which it should focus on.
Saying goodbye, Stanislav Křeček said that after the intervention of the ombudsman, in the vast majority of cases, public administration institutions were able to achieve redress. “The Office of the Public Defender of Rights is supposed to be a place where people can turn to whom no one else can help,” he noted.
So far, Emanuel Motejl, Pavel Varvařovský, Anna Šabatová and Křeček have taken turns at the head of the office.
