Usupashvili Calls to Intensify Work of Constitutional Commission

State Commission on Constitutional Reform has to “significantly” intensify its work, parliament speaker Davit Usupashvili, who also chairs the commission, said on March 28.

Speaking at a session of the commission on Saturday, Usupashvili said that working groups of the commission should hold their meetings on weekly basis.

The commission, which consists of representatives from broad range of political, civil society and academic circles, is made up of five separate working groups with each of them focusing on specific area: checks and balances between branches of government; human rights, courts, prosecutor’s office; territorial-administrative arrangement and local self-governance; general constitutional provisions and rules of making amendments to the constitution.

Mandate of the commission, which was launched in late December 2013, has been extended twice. Originally the commission was tasked to table draft of constitutional amendments by September 1, 2014; but the deadline was extended at first till March 1, 2015 and then again for further six months till September 15, 2015.

Usupashvili said that these extensions of deadlines were indicating on the willingness to produce amendments based on a thorough deliberation. No specific draft of amendments has yet been approved by the commission and the work of its working groups has been at times delayed by lack of quorum.

Approval of any constitutional amendment by the Parliament is a complicated process, which requires three-fourths majority (113) support of 150-seat parliament. GD parliamentary majority group, which in itself consists of seven factions, has total of 87 seats in the Parliament; UNM and Free Democrats opposition parties have 50 and 8, respectively, and there are four independent lawmakers.

Usupashvili said that achieving of a consensus in the parliament, required for a constitutional amendment, may currently seem impossible.

“But I offer not to be pessimistic. Political process is dynamic,” he said. “2016 parliamentary elections are already on the horizon and it is not ruled out that these factors will make it possible to endorse those discussions, which previously seemed unlikely.”

He said that the commission’s work may also be viewed as “two-phased” – the one in which it will be possible to achieve consensus on some issues before 2016 parliamentary elections and the second one in which the commission will continue to work beyond elections.

“One serious issue, which is already becoming an acute one, is related to electoral system,” Usupashvili said, referring to disparity between single-mandate, majoritarian constituencies.
 
He said that consensus on electoral system may become a “key” to pave the way for carrying out other constitutional amendments.

But at the same time, he said, the electoral system “should not overshadow other important constitutional issues.”

“There are about 50-55 concrete issues that have been raised by working groups and if we find an appropriate solution to at least third of them, it will be a serious progress in the process of constitutional development,” Usupashvili said.

“The goal is to improve the existing constitution and not to adopt a new one,” he said.