First Female President of Georgia Inaugurated
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, December 17
Georgia officially has a new President, Salome Zourabichvili, who is the first female to take the post.
Zourabichvili took an oath and thus she has been sworn in as the fifth president of Georgia. Consequently, Giorgi Margvelashvili’s authority has been terminated.
“I, President of Georgia, declare before the God and the nation that I will defend the Constitution of Georgia, independence, unity and integrity of the country, to be honestly fulfilling the President's duties, to care for the safety and well-being of my country's citizens, for the revival and power of my people and the land,” Zourabichvili stated while taking the oath.
The inauguration ceremony was held in Telavi, municipality of Georgia’s winemaking region of Kakheti, in the Batoni Palace fortress on December 16.
Head of the inaugural committee, Kakha Kakhishvili, stated that around 1800 people took part in the ceremony, including 150 representatives from around 55 countries High-ranking guests from more than 20 countries and 16 international organizations also arrived in Georgia for the inauguration of the 5th President.
Among the guests were: President of the Republic of Armenia Armen Sarkissian, former President of France (2007-2012) Nicolas Sarkozy and former Minister of Defense; Vice-President of the Republic of Turkey; Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament, Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia; President of the Senate of the Czech Republic; Speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania; Marshal of the Polish Senate and Head of the Presidential Office; Vice Prime Minister of Moldova; Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade of Turkmenistan; the Minister of Environment and Climate Change of the United Arab Emirates; Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus; Vice-Speaker of the Knesset of Israel and First Deputy Foreign Minister; GUAM Secretary-General; Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine; Deputy Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan; USAID representative from U.S.
After the ceremony, the new president hosted the guests at Vazha-Pshavela Theater in Telavi at a special reception.
In addition, after the new President took an oath, a new Constitution of Georgia went into force.
The Constitution consists of 11 chapters and 78 articles and it sets the principles of human rights and defines authorities among the governmental branches.
The main document of the country says that Georgia is a social-legal state which cares about the enforcement of social justice, equality and solidarity values. The Constitution guarantees equality of all citizens regardless of their race, gender, ethnical background, language, religion, political attitude, and prohibits discrimination by any other sign.
Based on the new Constitution, marriage is defined as a union between a woman and a man with the purpose of forming a family. Also, an agricultural land plot can be owned by a government, self-governance unit or a Georgian citizen.
The Constitution stipulates that increase of general taxes or introduction of a new tax will be possible through a referendum.
Also, starting from 2024, the country will move onto a proportional (party) system of rule.
In addition to this, from January 2019, the Georgian parliament building will be moved from Kutaisi to Tbilisi again.
The constitution reads that the next President of Georgia will be elected with 5-year-term through open balloting by the Election Collegiums, which will be staffed by members of parliament and 300 members of self-governance bodies from across the country and all members of Adjara and Abkhazia Autonomous Republics. The membership of Election Collegium will be approved by the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC).
Furthermore, the National Security Council will be abolished and the National Defense Council will be created instead to be chaired by the President of Georgia.
The constitutional changes were approved in September of 2017. Ex-president Giorgi Margvelashvili vetoed the changes.
However, the parliamentary majority managed to override the veto, and the draft of the Constitution was finally adopted with 117 votes for, and 7 – against.
