President of Georgia Vetoes Constitution Bill
President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili vetoed the constitutional bill, adopted by the parliament on September 26.
The President added six remarks to the bill and returned it back to the parliament. The parliament can either accept the notes or override the veto.
Margvelashvili stated that the four remarks directly reflect the commitments taken by the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) before the Venice Commission. They are: abolition of bonus system, allowing creation of election blocs, constitutional court issue and the freedom of confession.
As for the other two recommendations, one of them envisages introduction of fully proportional elections system since 2020, instead of 2024, offered by the GD majority.
The sixth issue applies to the rule of president’s election.
“I cannot imagine more constructive agreement…I hope the MPs will share my remarks…If the parliament takes all of these six points into consideration, Georgia will have a perfect constitution,” the president stated.
The parliamentary majority says they support only two remarks of the president – abolition of bonus system and allowing formation of election blocs this year.
GD faction Head, Mamuka Mdinaradze said the president deliberately added the other four points to his recommendations, knowing well the majority would not accept them.
“The result will be overriding of the presidential veto,” he added.
Opposition European Georgia says they support Margvelashvili’s veto. Giga Bokeria, one of the leaders of the party, called on the majority to be “sane” and support the presidential remarks.
The ruling GD can easily override presidential veto, as it happened several times in the past, because the ruling party has 116 MPs in a 150-seat parliament.
In order to override a veto, the votes of 76 MPs are needed.
By Thea Morrison
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