President vetoes constitutional amendments
Tweet 
Share
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has vetoed the constitutional changes that the Parliament adopted on September 26.
At a press briefing this evening, Margvelashvili announced that he did not sign the amendments because of six concrete shortcomings and he returned the bill back to the parliament with six recommendations.
The six issues that the President named as the reason for his veto were:
- Method of sharing of undistributed votes (or bonus system)
- Election blocs
- Constitutional Court
- Freedom of religion
- Proportional elections by 2020
- Presidential election
Margvelashvili said that the parliamentary majority had already expressed their readiness to correct the first four issues out of these six. As for the last two issues, the President included them in his recommendations after carrying out consultations with the opposition last week.
Margvelashvili said that if the parliament takes all of these six points into consideration, Georgia will have a perfect constitution.
The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) congratulates the Georgian Parliament with adoption of the new Constitution.
The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe has prepared its final opinion over Georgia’s constitutional reforms reiterating its previous positive assessment, "notably that the constitutional reform process completes the evolution of Georgia’s political system towards a parliamentary system”.
Although the opinion itself will not be officially published until next week, Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio voiced some of his thoughts regarding Georgia’s constitution in an interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and the parliamentary majority have held consultations over the proposed changes to the state constitution today.
The parliament of Georgia has overridden the president’s veto on the constitutional amendments and confirmed the country’s new constitution that will come into force following the 2018 presidential elections.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili says that Georgia’s new constitution is a major step forward on the path of the democratic development of the country.
The parliament of Georgia will most likely pass new a round of constitutional amendments in March of 2018, says Parliamentary Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze.
President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has signed the new edition of Constitution that Parliament adopted on September 26. Margvelashvili announced the news at a press briefing a short time ago.
Georgia has never been closer to European standards and to the EU than today, and we continue our hard work to become a full member of the European family, says Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze.
The parliament of Georgia has adopted the remaining changes planned for the state constitution with its first reading, meaning two other readings are still ahead until the final approval of the amendments.