On October 17, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that gone are the days when the president thought she was above the law and the constitution.

According to Garibashvili, the ruling of the Constitutional Court is now officially confirmed that Zourabichvili violated the Constitution. He noted: "Of course, I am not delighted about this situation. I don't want the president of my nation to disobey the law or the Constitution. The President should have served as an example to everyone else, to other public officials, and to future presidents, as she is a guarantor of the Constitution, the most important law in the nation. Instead, Mrs. Salome blatantly and demonstratively violated the Constitution many times."

Garibashvili reaffirmed that the Georgian Dream has never anticipated and does not anticipate that a majority will be able to get the votes necessary for impeachment. "But we, as the nation's leaders, lawmakers, and members of the Government, must unquestionably set an example. We need to remind the President and everyone else that the days in our nation when the President believed she was above the law and the Constitution are long gone," he added.

"We are not afraid of the opposition," Garibashvili noted. "Salome Zourabichvili had a rating of just 1% while she was in the opposition," he claimed, adding that it was only because of the Georgian Dream and its popularity that she was elected president.

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Backs Zourabichvili

On October 17, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement. According to the statement, France has taken notice of the Georgian Constitutional Court's decision to uphold the impeachment process brought by the legislative majority and backed by the Georgian government against Salome Zourabichvili.

The statement continued, "France expects the Georgian government to show responsibility and focus its efforts on the implementation of the set of reforms necessary to consolidate democracy and the rule of law at a crucial time for the future of the country, where unity and cohesion around European values must prevail."

Discussions and voting in the Parliament

On October 18, the impeachment of President Salome Zourabichvili was discussed during a plenary session of parliament. The required number of votes to remove the president from office was not obtained in the parliament. 90 MPs were eligible to participate in the ballot, 86 voted in favor and one against. To impeach the president, 100 votes are required. Opposition parties – United National Movement, For Georgia, and Strategy Aghmashenebeli did not attend the meetings.

While opening the meeting, Irakli Kobakhidze, the chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said, "The United National Movement has previously referred to Salome Zourabichvili as an agent, a resident, and a spy." He emphasized that if someone is referred to as a spy, an agent, or a resident, they will always carry that label. He also brought up the immutability of such designations. "The same UNM now hails Salome Zourabichvili as the pro-European figurehead in Georgian politics," the official added.

Kobakhidze criticized the Constitutional Court's dissenting justices, saying that they had overlooked a simple case and labeled their record and reasoning as absurd. President Zourabichvili was addressed by Kobakhidze, who said, "You termed 'small men' the individuals who guaranteed your presidency. We made every effort to help you win the presidency, and we honored your predecessors' legacies."

Then, the Georgian President started her speech. During the President's address, Irakli Kobakhidze and several other Georgian Dream lawmakers left the parliament. The President declined to respond to the MPs' inquiries following the address. "How do you explain to the people that you voted for the impeachment of a pro-European president and at the same time did not support the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which recognized the occupying regime as a dictatorship?" she asked. "What will you do with the fact that people no longer trust in you? I know that regardless of the outcome of the vote, you will declare victory," Zourabichvili stated. "You openly deserve applause from the invaders, and you are not even ashamed of it," Zourabichvili said. 

The president stated that Georgia obtaining candidate status by the end of the year is her only goal. She emphasized the Georgian people's steadfast determination to their decision to immigrate to Europe. She emphasized that no one should doubt this path's viability or think that anybody could steer them in the direction of Russia or away from their alternative destiny.