Georgian Parliament Speaker Announces New Impeachment Bid Against President
On October 7, Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, announced that the ruling Georgian Dream party will initiate another round of impeachment proceedings against President Salome Zourabichvili.
During a briefing, Speaker Papuashvili explained that the reason for filing the complaint with the Constitutional Court was the president's visits to European capitals the previous week. Papuashvili emphasized that after the Constitutional Court found Zourabichvili guilty of violating the Constitution of Georgia, the "radical opposition" provided her with "impunity," preventing her impeachment. He stated that after receiving this protection, she continued to violate the Constitution, notably by making additional foreign visits, including recent trips to France, Germany, Poland, and Belgium, without obtaining the necessary authorization from the government.
"It should be noted that if, before the Constitutional Court's decision, foreign countries and organizations could claim ignorance of the requirement for the president to seek government approval for her visits, after the Court's ruling, receiving Salome Zourabichvili without the mandatory consent of the Georgian government constitutes a violation of the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the country and goes against our shared European values," Papuashvili stated.
Papuashvili further remarked that this "open and brazen" violation of the Constitution would not go unanswered by the government. He explained that, as a result, the parliamentary majority had decided to restart the impeachment process and prepare a new constitutional proposal, which would be submitted to the Constitutional Court of Georgia before the parliamentary elections. He added that should Georgian Dream secure a constitutional majority in the elections, the president would be impeached in the first session of the new parliament.
The speaker also noted that the president's term was set to end next year but emphasized that an impeachment just a month before its conclusion would hold "symbolic and principled" significance, ensuring that Zourabichvili would be remembered not as a former president but as an impeached one.