Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the goal of the ongoing impeachment procedures against President Salome Zourabichvili for her unauthorized EU trip was to dismiss her.
He claimed his party initiated the process last month for the “systematic violation” of the country’s main law by the President.
“The political decision was made after the President’s violation of the constitution of Georgia became systematic. When you instigate impeachment, from our point of view, it means that we no longer consider the President worthy of the presidency. We no longer consider Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili worthy of the presidency”, he claimed.
The consideration of the impeachment issue of the President in the Constitutional Court began on October 3.
As Kobakhidze explained, Zourabiichvili had “grossly violated” the Georgian constitution and started visiting foreign countries without the government’s consent. The representatives of the President of Georgia claimed Zourabichvili had been granted this authority by the Constitution.
The submission to the Constitutional Court against the President of Georgia was signed by 80 MPs of the parliamentary majority (the consent of at least 50 MPs was required). On September 11, it became known that the Committee on Procedural Issues and Rules of the Parliament confirmed the authenticity of the signatures, which was a necessary prerequisite for sending the document to the court.
The Constitutional Court must submit its conclusion to the Parliament within one month of the appeal. After that, the parliament should make a political verdict and decide whether to put the issue of the president’s impeachment to the vote or not.
Zourabichvili continues to hold meetings in European capitals, as she says to facilitate Georgia’s obtaining the EU candidacy.
The consent of 100 MPs in the parliament is required for the impeachment of the president. As of today, the 150-member Parliament of Georgia has 140 active MPs. More than 80 MPs are included in the parliamentary majority, and 56 are in the parliamentary opposition.