Will the Georgian authorities be able to declare impeachment of the president, and why did they go for it?
Impeachment of the Georgian President
In Georgia, a new round of confrontation between the government and the ruling party and President Salome Zurabishvili. Georgian Dream launched impeachment proceedings against the president on September 1, accusing her of violating the constitution when the president went on European trips despite being banned by the government.
The authorities also accuse the president of colluding with the “radical opposition.” As ruling party leader Irakli Kobahide announced, “they have a common agenda – to prevent Georgia from obtaining candidate status.”
This is the second attempt by the ruling party to impeach Salome Zurabishvili. On June 10, 2022, the government filed a lawsuit against the president in the Constitutional Court, again over her visits abroad.
On January 11, 2023, the Constitutional Court refused to consider the suit and the government had to withdraw it.
Before these two lawsuits, there had never been a case in Georgia where a sitting president had been brought to court for violating the constitution.
Why is the government appealing to the Constitutional Court for the second time? What is the impeachment process – can the ruling party remove the president? And if it can’t, and the authorities know this in advance, why did the government go down this path?
Below is an analysis of the situation with Levan Alapishvili, a lawyer and constitutional specialist.
Kobakhidze announced on September 1 the start of impeachment proceedings against President Salome Zuraishvili for “gross violation of the constitution.”
According to the Georgian constitution, the president can exercise representative powers in foreign relations only with the consent of the government, as the implementation of the country’s foreign policy is the responsibility of the government.
On August 30, the government announced that it did not give the president permission to visit other countries and hold official meetings there, explaining that “the president opposes the interests of the country’s European integration.” However, on August 31, Zurabishvili went to Germany anyway and held a meeting with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Other meetings with European leaders followed.
Earlier, the presidential administration released a statement saying that the purpose of the trip and meetings with European leaders was to lobby for support for granting Georgia candidate status for EU membership.
What is the impeachment procedure?
“Impeachment is a long and multi-step process. And success of one step does not mean successful completion of the process,” Alapishvili says.
1.
The process starts in the parliament. The constitutional suit must be signed by at least 50 MPs. As of today, the ruling party has 84 seats in parliament, so Georgian Dream will go through this stage successfully.
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2.
The next stage is consideration by the Constitutional Court. The plenum of the Constitutional Court consisting of nine judges must meet. They have a month from the day of receipt of the application to consider the case.
Alapishvili explains that at this stage representatives of political parties and other interested persons from the society can take part in the discussion. They can present their opinion and their arguments to the judges.
After the discussion, the issue will be decided by secret ballot:
- If all nine judges are present, the decision will be taken by majority vote.
- But if eight judges are present and the vote is split 4:4, the opinion will automatically be rejected and the discussion will be closed.
3.
If the Constitutional Court does not establish the fact of violation of the constitution, the process will be terminated.
If the fact is established, the process will continue in the Parliament. Two weeks after the decision of the Constitutional Council, the issue will be put to a vote in the Parliament.
The impeachment is considered to have taken place if 100 out of 150 deputies (⅔ members of parliament) support the issue.
The Georgian Dream Chairman stated that he realizes that getting those 100 votes in Parliament will be a difficult or even impossible task. And if the parliament does not make a decision within two weeks, it will not have the right to start the next impeachment on the same grounds.
The whole process should be completed within two to three months.
The Government of Georgia accuses the President of violating subparagraph “A” of paragraph 1 of Article 52 of the Constitution of Georgia. This article states that the president of Georgia exercises representative powers in foreign relations only with the consent of the government.
“Georgian Dream faces a difficult task to prove that the president has violated the constitution,” says Alapishvili. He cites the following arguments:
1.The government will have to present the exact wording of what action they consider a violation of the constitution. That the president traveled abroad? That she met with someone? Or that the violation is the topic of discussion during the meetings?
In any case, a very awkward situation is being created. In particular, the government will have to approach the German president and leaders in the European institutions and request details of their meeting with the Georgian president – which is essentially confidential.
2.International relations is a matter defined not only by the constitution. There is also international law. An important document in this matter is the Vienna Convention on International Relations.
This document states that the three officials of all countries – the President, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs – do not need to have a special consent or authorization document in order to carry out the actions stipulated by this convention.
Impeachment of the Georgian President
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If a constitutional violation is confirmed, does that mean the impeachment will be successful?
“Impeachment has two dimensions: legal and political. The constitutional court can say that the constitution has been violated. But that doesn’t mean that parliament should remove the president,” constitutional lawyer Vahushti Menabde says:
“Parliament has to assess whether its decision would be politically wise at the moment.
If I were a Constitutional Court judge, I wouldn’t hesitate to sign off on a constitutional violation. But if I were a member of Parliament, I would not support impeachment.”
To get the 100 votes needed for impeachment in parliament, the government will have to get them from the opposition. But many in the opposition have openly said they would not support impeachment.
Impeachment of the Georgian President
Why did the ruling party take this path?
Several versions are being discussed in political circles.
According to one of them, Georgian Dream is trying to divert attention from the main issues and problems.
“They will start a procedure and this will be the main issue for several months, which will create the information environment that Ivanishvili wants. They will intensify the anti-Western campaign. And at this time the issue of the status of the EU candidate country will most likely not be in the center of attention. The oligarch needs exactly this kind of Russian-style chaos before the elections,” opposition MP Khatia Dekanoidze wrote on social media.
Many believe that the authorities have openly opposed a European future for the country.
The trigger for the government could have been a statement by European Council President Charles Michel on August 28 during a speech at a strategic forum in Slovenia. He talked about EU enlargement, mentioned Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia and said that “EU enlargement is no longer a dream and it is time for both sides to move forward.”
Many experts and opposition politicians believe that these words stimulated the Georgian government to take radical steps to damage the process.
Former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, now in opposition, says that, “first of all, [the conflict with the president] is a conscious step against the country’s European future. But in addition, it is a conscious step towards deepening confrontation and polarization in the country, which certainly poses a serious problem for the stability of the state.”
Conflictologist Paata Zakareishvili says that Georgian Dream is taking such steps to show its loyalty to Russia:
“Georgian Dream is doing everything to destroy any chance of getting candidate status. They are shamefully informing the European Union that the President’s activities aimed at cooperation with the EU are unacceptable to them. Of course, they want to show their zeal for Russia.”
What were the responses to the impeachment push?
Whatever the goal of the Georgian Dream, many analysts agree that the process will do great harm to the state.
“Impeachment is not an ordinary procedure, it is the ultimate political crisis. And the ruling party itself is creating this crisis. We look very bad from the outside,” says lawyer Levan Alapishvili.
“The Georgian Dream threatens the European dream of the people of Georgia. I express solidarity with the president of the state, a true European leader,” wrote Michael Roth, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German Bundestag.
President Salome Zurabishvili herself has not yet made an official statement on the impeachment. She continues her meetings in Europe.
Impeachment of the Georgian President
