Politicians React to Constitutional Court Ruling on President’s Constitutional Breach
On October 16, the Constitutional Court of Georgia ruled that President Salome Zurabishvili has violated the Constitution. The Court determined that the President breached the country’s Constitution by making working visits to Europe without the Government’s approval.
Civil.ge has compiled the reactions of politicians to the Constitutional Court ruling:
Irakli Kobakhidze, Chair of the “Georgian Dream” party: “Today the Constitutional Court of Georgia has confirmed the simple truth that Salome Zurabishvili has repeatedly, intentionally and blatantly violated the Constitution of Georgia, thus flagrantly opposing the constitutional order and the system of Parliamentary Government established by the Constitution… With this decision, the Constitutional Court of Georgia also confirmed the simple truth that according to the Constitution of Georgia, Georgia is a Parliamentary republic where the domestic and foreign policy of the country is defined and implemented only by the Parliament and the Government. Salome Zurabishvili has betrayed the Constitution of Georgia and the oath she took on the Constitution of Georgia”.
Archil Talakvadze, “Georgian Dream”: “We said from the beginning that this impeachment has a very important political and legal weight, and of course both goals were very important for us. As we have said, in accordance with the law, the issue will be raised at the Parliamentary session and a vote will be taken”.
Guram Macharashvili, “People’s Power”: “If I were [the President’s] advisor, I would certainly advise her to choose between bad and worse. It’ll be bad if the President resigns because the Constitutional Court has made a decision that she has violated the Constitution; it will be worse if the president of Georgia … does not comply the Constitutional Court and carries the burden of what is called a violation of the Constitution”.
Fridon Injia, “European Socialists”: “Our group will support the impeachment… If Zurabishvili wants to take her place in society, the most appropriate thing would be for her to leave this post of her own free will”.
Levan Bezhashvili, “United National Movement”: “We have repeatedly stated that the Constitutional Court is directly controlled by “Georgian Dream”, the clan of the Court is staffed by their members, therefore there was no great expectation that the Constitutional Court would make an objective legal decision… [The members of the Constitutional Court] supported not the Constitution or the legal interpretation of constitutional norms, but unfortunately they directly supported the claim of “Georgian Dream”. This once again confirms that the Constitutional Court no longer exists, there is no independent body that would make an objective, state decision on this or that important issue. Everything is subject to the vertical of “Georgian Dream” and Bidzina Ivanishvili”.
Badri Japaridze, “Lelo – for Georgia”: “”Georgian Dream”, which fulfills Russian tasks, continues to pursue the policy based on the instructions of Russia’s Putin. It is clear that the start of the impeachment process against the President was dictated by Russia, and therefore the task of “Georgian Dream” was and is to deal a heavy blow to the only institution that has preserved and maintains its independence. Of course, the court expressed what “Georgian Dream”, i.e. Kobakhidze had ordered as the chairman of “Georgian Dream”… In the end, of course, this attempt of “Georgian Dream”, based on the instructions received from Russia, serves to prevent Salome Zurabishvili from carrying out the most important visits, which served to obtain the candidate status for EU membership for Georgia, to prevent her meetings with European leaders and [in general] to prevent Georgia from obtaining the EU’s candidate status”.
Teona Akubardia, Parliamentary Group “Reforms Group”: “We have seen that a seal has been put on state capture. Recently it was the National Bank that fulfilled the order of Irakli Kobakhidze, now there are six judges of the Constitutional Court who, without saying a word, fulfill the task of “Georgian Dream”, and this once again proves that the state is hijacked and it does not serve the interests of the state and the people… This is a sabotage against our European future, since the highest representatives of the European Union, in relation to the impeachment, advised Georgia that it would not be beneficial for Georgia’s candidate status… This is, of course, a political order and an order from Kremlin”.
Paata Manjgaladze, “Strategy Aghmashenebeli”: “[The Constitutional Court’s decision] is an anti-Western action, directed against the candidate status… If the Constitutional Court had said that the President had not violated the Constitution, the political impeachment of Irakli Kobakhidze would have begun… because he had deceived the Government, the Parliament”.
Beka Liluashvili, “For Georgia”: “As for the decision of the plenum of judges, I don’t think there was any other expectation in society. As you know, this court is conducted via telephone chat… The main task and the goal of the [Georgian] Dream is not to fight this battle against Zurabishvili or specifically anyone else, but to directly subjugate the President’s institution”.
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