The Speaker of Georgia’s Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, on Monday announced plans to launch a new constitutional submission seeking the impeachment of President Salome Zourabichvili. Speaking at a briefing held at the central office of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Papuashvili confirmed the parliamentary majority intends to move forward with the impeachment process ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections on October 26.
The submission will be presented to Georgia’s Constitutional Court. Papuashvili expressed confidence that, once the court verifies the constitutional violations, the new parliament will be able to remove Zourabichvili from office with a minimum of one hundred votes.
Papuashvili pointed to Zourabichvili’s recent trips to several European countries, including France, Germany, Poland, and Belgium, without obtaining government consent, as the primary reason for initiating the impeachment process. “Zourabichvili continued to grossly violate the constitution by traveling abroad without the necessary authorization,” he stressed.
While Zourabichvili’s term is already set to expire later this year, the impeachment would serve a “predominantly symbolic role”, the official claimed.
“Impeaching her would likely reduce her term by only a month,” Papuashvili explained. However, he stressed that the political and legal importance of this move was “significant”. “We cannot allow deliberate, gross, and systematic violations of the constitution to go unpunished,” he added.
Papuashvili further emphasized that removing Zourabichvili through impeachment, rather than letting her step down naturally at the end of her term, would set a “crucial precedent”. “She should not leave office as a former president, but as a deposed president. This will serve as an important precedent to curb future arbitrariness and reinforce Georgian democracy,” the Speaker concluded.
