Impeachment has begun: Georgian President Zurabishvili appeared before the Constitutional Court

Salome Zurabishvili became the first female president in the history of Georgia in 2018. At that time, only 11 women in the world held such a senior leadership position. Zurabishvili led the country with the enormous support of the Georgian Dream party and despite accusations from the opposition of pro-Russian views. Five years later, she led the anti-Russian movement, and the ruling party is looking for ways to get rid of her. MK was looking into how it came to this.

Galloping across Europe

“I am the first woman president in the history of Georgia. By electing me as President, we are continuing a tradition: women enjoyed equal rights in democratic elections 100 years ago, and five women were elected to Parliament. This was rare in Europe then. And today we are taking a progressive step,” Zurabishvili said during the inauguration.

After she took office, the republic finally switched to a parliamentary form of government. The next president of Georgia will be elected by a panel of 300 people, consisting of members of parliament, as well as representatives of regional authorities. Zurabishvili’s successor will be elected to a five-year term in 2024.

For a long time, practically nothing was heard about the first female president of Georgia. But after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, she went into sharp opposition to the government and became very noticeable. The President called for the implementation of all anti-Russian sanctions and the introduction of additional checks for Russians arriving in the country. She spoke out against the restoration of direct flights between the country and Russia and even against the Russian side’s abolition of the visa regime for Georgian citizens.

Zurabishvili sided with the protesters in March 2023 when Georgian Dream tried to pass a law on foreign agents. And in May last year, she supported the Ministry of Justice’s proposal to transfer Mikheil Saakashvili to a private clinic for examination. This was contrary to the official position of the authorities, who asserted that the ex-president was feigning poor health.

“For the first four years after taking office, Salome Zurabishvili did nothing, for which the opposition criticized her. The president herself was quieter than water, lower than the grass. Only in the last year and a half has she begun to actively speak out and declare that this government is bad and inactive. In her opinion, it is necessary to attack Russia as much as possible and do everything that the West says, even if it contradicts the interests of Georgia,” said “MK” political scientist Archil Sikharulidze.

The last straw for the authorities was the president’s trips to Europe, which she did not coordinate with the government, as required by law. On September 1, she visited Berlin, where she met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, then went to Brussels to meet with the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, and after that decided to visit the Baltic countries.

Georgian Dream considered that Zurabishvili had violated the country’s Constitution by going on a European tour without the government’s consent, and began preparing to impeach the president. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on September 4 that the president “defiantly violated” the country’s Basic Law.

Now there is not so much a political war as an information war between the Georgian Dream party and the president, explains MK political scientist Nika Chitadze: “The ruling party wants to discredit her and show the public that the president has violated the Constitution, according to which foreign policy activities cannot be carried out without the consent of the government. But, of course, this is just an excuse. The reason lies in the fact that Salome Zurabishvili is trying to pursue a policy independent of “Civic Dream” and does not coordinate his actions with the authorities. The ruling party considers this unacceptable, since it was thanks to them that Zurabishvili became president.”

Own interests

Salome Zurabishvili feels more than comfortable in the European Union. She was born in Paris into a family of Georgian political emigrants. And, accordingly, has French citizenship. Georgian legislation prohibits having dual or second citizenship, but on March 20, 2004, by a special decree of Mikheil Saakashvili, she was granted Georgian citizenship while maintaining a French passport.

“Her future is not in Georgia. She is a citizen of France, where she receives a pension, her children work in America and France. For her, Georgia is a pasture where she could work and get what she always wanted – to prove that despite the fact that at one time her family left the country because they were oppressed by the communists, she returned and even became president. This is important for her,” Archil Sikharulidze noted in a conversation with MK.

According to him, Zurabishvili has secured a comfortable future in France for herself and her children. And what happens after she leaves her post does not particularly concern her. “She will already be able to write on her resume that she was president, promoted European values ​​and, perhaps, will even receive some kind of certificate for her activities. She has no political future, which means she has nothing to lose. And if you shout everywhere that she is fighting for freedom, then you can get a lot.”

Salome Zurabishvili simply decided to play the card that she is the first female president in the South Caucasus, the political scientist believes. If for the Georgians themselves this is not of great importance, then for their European and American colleagues it is important. This, he says, explains the fact that all of its main messages are published, including in English: its audience is Westerners, not Georgians.

Not only Zurabishvili can try to get better conditions for himself. For the ruling party, the announcement of impeachment will also become a symbol of the victory of the Georgian Dream, which is very useful before the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2024.

But as for impeachment, political scientists interviewed by MK agreed that there are unlikely to be enough votes for this decision.

“The Constitutional Court, which is under the control of the authorities, can rule that the president violated Article 52 of the Constitution of Georgia. But after this the issue will have to be considered by parliament. To remove the president from office, 100 votes of deputies are needed. I doubt that Georgian Dream will gain the necessary support. Yes, they were able to push the initiative through the Constitutional Court, but the final decision rests with parliament,” Chitadze explained to MK.

Zurabishvili’s supporters are putting pressure on the fact that she remains the president elected by the people, and the impeachment process itself contradicts Georgia’s choice to become a member of the European Union. Parliamentary Secretary of the President Giorgi Mskhiladze said that “those who are for impeachment are against European integration.”

“I want to tell you that from today the lustration process began, it began precisely with these signatures, which contradicts the historical choice of our country to become a full member of the European family of the European Union. Lustration of those who will support this process has begun,” he announced after the deputies appealed to the Constitutional Court.

This is unlikely to be true. Few can argue that Salome Zurabishvili deliberately violated the country’s legislation. And in general, the issue of Georgia’s European integration does not depend on the activities of the president, Sikharulidze believes.

“Georgia was not given candidate status because the country did not want to clash with Russia, as, for example, Moldova did,” the political scientist emphasizes. — And telling the Georgian population that Ukraine and Moldova are more democratic than Georgia is simply stupid. We did our best not to hurt ourselves. Demanding self-sacrifice from Georgia when the country has already done so much is simply naive.”