“Radical” opposition, President have “common patrons” – ruling party head

Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the “radical” United National Movement opposition party and its “affiliated” groups in the Parliament were “very unlikely” to back President Salome Zourabichvili’s impeachment for her unauthorized EU trip this month, claiming the opposition and the President had “common patrons”. 

 

In his press comments, Kobakhidze did not specify whom he meant in “patrons”, but the ruling party officials have many times claimed the UNM and the President were “receiving demands” from the West, claiming the latter was motivated to overthrow the Georgian Dream Government and then “drag” Georgia into the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict with the hands of the UNM in power. 

 

He added the “collective UNM” was expected to also make a “moral compromise” and “admit it had cheated its voters” in 2018 – when “during the elections it called  Zourabichvili a traitor” who was backed by the GD in the race – to vote against her impeachment.

 

Kobakhidze also asked if the President believed her EU trip without the Government’s consent was “legitimate” the why she had refused to spend budgetary funds, adding the country’s Constitutional Court had time until October 12 to release its conclusion whether the President had violated the country’s main law through her recent visits abroad. 

 

The President’s office claimed Zourabichvili’s meetings with European leaders this month aimed to facilitate the country’s obtaining the EU membership candidate status later this year, following her allegations to the country’s Government of “demonizing the west” and “only formally” fulfilling the candidacy conditions. 

 

The Government, however, said such claims by the President “undermined” the country’s EU future and accused her of “deliberate violation” of the country’s constitution following the Government’s official rejection in the summer for her visits to Germany, Belgium, Ukraine, Poland and several other states. 

 

The ruling party needs at least 100 votes in the 150-member Parliament to dismiss the President, while it has about 80 seats.