What the President’s Constitutional Address Means for the New Parliament – Civil Georgia

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili challenged the official results of the October 26 parliamentary elections in the country’s Constitutional Court, although she said she does not believe in the independence of the court and therefore does not expect the decision she is seeking.

“But it should serve as a sign that we have not left any litigation in the country untested,” she said. said November 18, two days after the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced official final results that gave the ruling Georgian Dream party a nearly 54 percent victory.

What is the president’s complaint about?

In his complaint, the President claims that two constitutional principles were violated in the October 26 elections (Part 2 of Article 37 Constitution of Georgia):

Secrecy of voting – The President supports the widespread concern that the ink leaking from the back of the ballot indicates which party the citizen voted for;
Universal suffrage – The President claims that the state neglected the electoral rights of Georgians living abroad, preventing them from exercising their right to vote.

The president is demanding that the court declare the results of the 2024 parliamentary elections in Georgia unconstitutional. she submitted complaint to the Constitutional Court on November 19. At the same time, 30 opposition deputies of the current parliament filed a separate lawsuit with the Constitutional Court with the same goal of declaring the results unconstitutional.

However, there is no hope that the Constitutional Court, which is not independent of the GD government, will rule in favor of any of these complaints. In the past Court is supported the impeachment of President Salome Zurabishvili due to her work visits to Europe without government approval; this is also refused temporarily suspend the Foreign Agents Act.

A naive move or a smart strategy – what are the rules of the game?

According to experts, constitutional lawsuits questioning the election results are stopping the convening and formation of a new parliament.

Georgia Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), a local human rights organization, explains as: According to Procedure rules At the first session of the newly elected Parliament, a Temporary Mandate Commission is formed; The Central Election Commission (CEC) provides him with the necessary documents, including materials regarding candidates for deputies; The commission examines the documents and submits a single list of deputies to the parliament; then the parliament recognizes the powers of the deputies.

But, by the same rules, “the resolution of the parliament on the recognition of the powers of deputies does not indicate the name of the person whose legality of election as a deputy has been appealed to the Constitutional Court of Georgia.”

The parliament must have the authority of at least two-thirds of all 150 deputies, i.e. 100 deputies recognized to begin work. President Salome Zurabishvili’s constitutional lawsuit to declare the elections invalid calls into question the legality of the elections of all 150 deputies.

“The temporary mandate commission should not enter the names of the elected candidates for deputies in the relevant order,” GYLA writes, adding: “In this case, the parliament will not be able to recognize the credentials of at least 100 deputies, which will actually lead to the suspension of the first session.”

“Therefore, the Parliament of Georgia will not be able to recognize the powers of the elected deputies until the trial in the Constitutional Court is completed,” GYLA summarizes.

All views on the Constitutional Court

Before President Zurabishvili announced her intention to challenge the election results in court, Prime Minister Iraklii Kobakhidze set November 25 as the date for the first session of the parliament.

There are five days left until this date, and the Constitutional Court has no chance to consider the cases in such a short time, not to mention the fact that the Court has not even made a decision on the admissibility of the President’s appeal. But even taking into account his lack of independence, it is difficult to imagine that the Constitutional Court will reject the president’s appeal.

Constitutionalist Vakhushti Menabde wrote on social media before the CEC announced the final election results that if the election is appealed to the Constitutional Court, it will delay the process of convening a new parliament by almost a month. “While the case is pending before the Constitutional Court, the parliament cannot assume all its powers. He has no discretion to do so under the rules of procedure,” he said.

Does GD care?

“Salome Zurabishvili cannot hinder the work of the newly elected parliament,” – Executive Secretary of the State Department Mamuka Mdinaradze told journalists on November 19, adding that “there is no such rule in the legislation.”

However, Mdinaradze’s statement contradicts the country’s statement Law on the Constitutional Court of Georgiaaccording to which the President, as well as at least one-fifth of the members of the Parliament and the People’s Defender are the three subjects who have the right to submit a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Court regarding the constitutionality of the normative standards of elections. .

Meanwhile, the CEC is moving forward. Today, November 20, she announced the handing over of temporary powers to the elected People’s Deputies in accordance with Article 131 of the Law of Georgia. Electoral Code. But in their complaint, the opposition deputies also ask the Constitutional Court to suspend the effect of this very article of the Election Code, since, as noted by one of the authors of the complaint, Tamar Kordzaia from the UNM, “all the mandates are contradictory.”

“If the Constitutional Court does not immediately schedule a preliminary hearing and discuss the complaints, it will violate the Constitution of Georgia and the Law on the Constitutional Court of Georgia,” Kordzaia said.

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