The FINANCIAL — The President of Georgia H.E. Giorgi Margvelashvili has vetoed amendments to the Constitution of Georgia adopted by the Parliament and returned motivated remarks to the legislative body.
President Margvelashvili has presented motivated remarks, developed in collaboration with 20 opposition political parties to journalists and highlighted that these remarks have been prepared exceptionally and they share the spirit of agreement and consensus.
According to the President, first 4 points out of the 6-point motivated remarks submitted to the Parliament fully reflect the commitment of the “Georgian Dream” to the Venice Commission. These are the points on which the “Georgian Dream” has taken responsibility to the Venice Commission to amend. The following 4 points remain unchanged in the motivated remarks: bonus system, election blocs, constitutional court and freedom of religion. According to the President, the 5th point is also presented by the “Georgian Dream” – transition to the proportional election system in 2020.
“As you are aware, the ruling political party has lacked votes while adopting the Constitution; however, if the” Georgian Dream” supports transition of this issue to the Parliament, on the basis of agreement with the parliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition, the opposition will support it and vote for it. As a result, promises of the “Georgian Dream” to the society will be reflected in the Constitution without any complications.
The last topic concerns the presidential election system. The ruling party could not agree with the opposition and the entire Georgian society on this issue; however, I have decided not to be rigid while presenting my suggestion. We offer the Georgian Parliament to discuss this issue in the future,” President Margvelashvili said.
As he added, if these 6 points are considered we will achieve a lot: we will adopt the Constitution that will be supported by the parliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition, we will demonstrate our European political culture, highly recommended by the Venice Commission and we will adopt the document of consent.
President Margvelashvili has thanked everyone who has been working tirelessly to hold consultations with the Government and opposition parties during the past month, according to the Administration of the President of Georgia.
“I would like to thank those parties who have reached this consensus and who have supported this document of agreement. 5 points out of the 6-point remarks are the Government’s initiative and the only point on which agreement cannot be reached is to be settled in the future. I cannot imagine a more constructive agreement than this. Beyond this it will be submission not agreement,” the President said.
He has hoped that members of the Parliament, the people who are entrusted by the society to manage people’s lives and develop the Constitution, will consider this proposal not from a partisan standpoint, but as the document of the highest consent of the Georgian society.
“They will vote on it not from their partisan standpoint, but from their conscience, political principles and responsibility to the future,” President Margvelashvili stated.
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