The party “For Georgia“, led by former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakaria, is taking the initiative for Georgia’s Constitution to include direct presidential election.
“We call upon the honorary chair of Georgian Dream, and the parliamentary majorities, to begin working on the constitutional amendement from this spring session regarding the return of rule of direct elections of the president by citizens of Georgia,” Beka Liluashvili said at a press briefing in parliament.
He claims that Bidzina ivanishvili recognized the problem of uncontrolled powers, but as a solution, he offered to the society the role of a controller. Liluashvili stated that in a democracy, it is impossible to have one person as the guarantee of state stability.
“Gakharia’s team, the Party for Georgia, has proposed an initiative to change the Constitution of Georgia in regards to the procedure of electing the President. The previous rule should be reinstated, and the future President of Georgia should be elected directly by the citizens of Georgia rather than through the electoral college. This gives the president the necessary independence and legitimacy.
“Bidzina ivanishvili spoke also about the problem with the balance in government, acknowledging the issue of unlimited and uncontrolled powers of the Georgian Dream Government, but instead he proposed himself to be the controller for the third time.
“Power must be equilibrated. In a democracy, it is impossible to have one person as the guarantee of state stability. Logically, it would be in his best interest to preserve constitutional institutions with high legitimacy. We therefore call on the honorable chairperson of Dream and the parliamentary majorities to begin working on the constitutional changes from this spring session to bring back the rule that the President of Georgia is directly elected by the citizens.
“We had included this issue in the party’s electoral program, but due to the New Year surprises (Ivanishvili returning), these processes were accelerated to our benefit. This experience is not new: many European countries had to return the rule of direct presidential election,” Liluashvili stated.
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