The ruling party will not admit crisis at any state institution and will care about the normal functioning of any constitutional body, reads the Georgian Dream party’s Political Council’s statement.
Based on the statement, the GD Political Council clarified that the ruling party is responsible for the supreme constitutional institutions’ protection, and, therefore, the GD will refrain from assessing the President’s “inappropriate remarks and actions.”
However, as the statement reads, the ruling party is obliged to take measures when the President’s actions obstruct the normal functioning of the state institutions.
The GD reminded the society that the President’s actions have been impeding the goals of the Foreign Ministry for a long while, and this referred to foreign policy issues, namely, the President refused to appoint government-nominated persons to diplomatic posts, as required per the Constitution, and she did so only after the government filed a complaint in the Constitutional Court.
Also, the President violated the fairness principle when she rejected nominating candidates for CEC chair and two members under the pretext that one part of the opposition did not want to support them.
“Open support of the opposition’s sabotage is completely unjustified and unacceptable,” the statement reads.
The statement further reads that later, President Salome Zourabichvili again refused to present the CEC chair and two members to the parliament for approval. It is worth adding, the statement reads, that CEC Chairman Giorgi Kalandarishvili and two acting members have successfully held 2021 local and by-elections by that time.
The Georgian parliament was forced to revise rules to elect CEC Chair and its members to form the election administration.
“The new rule was included in the April 19 political agreement aiming to promote the CEC sabotage, intentionally,” says the statement.
According to the statement, this time President’s attitude towards NBG directly contradicts her Constitutional responsibilities. There are two vacant seats in the NBG Board, and the President’s post has been vacant since March 2.
Based on the Constitution, the parliament elects members of the NBG Board nominated by the President. The decision should be made through consultations between the ruling party and the President. The consultations were held, and the President agreed on Lasha Khutsishvili’s candidacy. The appointment of the NBG President could be possible after the election of at least one member of the board. Concrete dates were set, but the President violated all agreed terms. President said that she would present Lasha Khutsishvili’s candidacy if the parliament would not override the President’s veto of the Organic Law on NBG. The parliament met the promise, unlike the President.
The last communication with the President on the selection of NBG Board members took place on June 6 at the ruling party’s initiative. However, Salome Zourabichvili declared that she would not submit any candidate to the parliament until the year-end.
“Such attitude toward the important Constitutional body directly contradicts her Constitutional responsibility,” the statement reads.
“Signs that President obstructs the NBG’s normal functioning with her intentional actions are obvious. Under such conditions, the parliament will have to override the President’s veto of the Organic Law on NBG, and the procedure will take place next week. The ruling team will not accept an institutional crisis in any state institution and will care about the proper functioning of each constitutional body. This is the responsibility of the ruling team before our state and Georgian voters,” reads the statement.
