Salome Zurabishvili, President of Georgia, said on October 16 that “the time of Georgian Dream dreaming is over”, after the Constitutional Court ruled that the President had violated the Constitution of Georgia when she visited Europe without permission from the government.
Zurabishvili has stated that she will not be leaving her position.
“I was heartbroken, although nothing surprises anymore in this country, and I wasn’t really surprised by the result of today’s election, but I was heartbroken about the Constitutional Court which, in our legal system remained one of the places that, to some degree, the court deserved faith. This is no longer true: the Constitutional Court reached a conclusion so egregious that it, and every judge who signed the decision, should be ashamed. Only three people have saved a little more self-respect than the Constitutional Court. This is a great harm to the country at a time when practically all independent institutions are already so distorted and there is no independence-defending institution left in this country, except for one – the President! “I want to encourage you. Tell the public and anyone who will listen that I won’t be going anywhere. I won’t resign. I will stay where I have been all my life. I will stand on the street for what I stood for, for our European and Democratic future,” said President.
She said that the time for “dreams” was over.
“This is a try by ‘Georgian Dream,’ but their time of dreaming is over. I will not bring their dreams to life and I will not go anywhere. Today, the European Future and Democracy were killed with a single stone. Zurabishvili said that a country with no balance between its branches cannot be called democratic.
The Constitutional Court has determined that President Salome Zurabishvili broke the Constitution of the country by allowing the government to make unauthorized trips to Europe. Three of the nine judges of the Plenum voted against this decision: Irina Imerlishvili (not pictured), Giorgi Kverenchkhiladze (not pictured) and Teimuraz Tuughush. The decision was supported by Merab Turava and Eva Gotsiridze as well as Giorgi Tevdorashvili.
By Ana Dumbadze
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