Constitutional amendments, Saakashvili's regular statement on return and ‘renewal of political cases’ in court
By Malkhaz Matsaberidze
Friday, September 17
The constitutional amendments adopted on September 7 showed that the "Georgian Dream" performs separate paragraphs of the April 19 agreement announced by him "Annoon". It is clear what the ruling party doesn't like about the agreement - the court reform and the 43% threshold. Before the upcoming self-government elections, Saakashvili made another statement about returning to Georgia. In the meantime, the trials were resumed against media managers.
According to the Government leaders, this document contains anti-constitutional points. This document was unacceptable for the Georgian Dream from the constitutional amendment. According to the amendment, the General Prosecutor must be advised by a qualified majority - 3/5 of the full composition (support of 90 members).
If the Parliament failed to do it with two votes, then the General Prosecutor would choose a simple majority - 76 votes, but for 1 year. The idea of this change was that the General Prosecutor was elected by the government and the opposition, as a result of consensus and more confidence.
This paragraph did not get into the April 19 agreement, - such a recommendation has long been a Venice Commission. According to "Georgian Dream", it was unacceptable, according to their arguments, it was a constitutional scarcity, because "there is no model of choosing the General Prosecutor in Democratic Countries" and selecting a short term "undermines the independence of the institute".
Reference to European democratic countries is not convincing to the opposition. The thing is that Georgia is far from the Prosecutor's Office and the Court's European standards.
According to the Georgian Dream, this constitutional amendment was followed by a negative reaction from the West. According to the US Embassy, Georgia has missed another opportunity for an "independent, transparent and impartial justice system", which is important for Georgia's European integration. The concerns were expressed by the EU that "Georgian Dream" does not fulfil its obligations regarding the court reform.
The opposition claims that Georgia will actually shift the West in the absence of the terms of the April 19 agreement. However, more than the failure of the obligations, can be made by the tone of "Georgian Dream" leaders from the West. According to these statements, the Venice Commission is mistaken, I did not have any promise, the April 19 agreement was annulled, Ambassadors ask us and explain.
The annulment of the April 19 agreement did not lead the Georgian Dream to forgetting the Gavrilov Night amnesty law, which was initiated in the name of the agreement and which provoked the biggest protests in the opposition. The reason for initiating the amnesty law was the release of Nika Melia.
During the tense pre-election period, Mikheil Saakashvili said that he was going to return to Georgia before the elections. It would be a sensation to say this for the first time, but he is making his return statement for the eighth or eleventh time (journalists were confused in counting such previous statements). "Georgian Dream" met this statement with ridicule - it will not dare to come, and if it arrives, it will release itself in prison. Saakashvili's statement was not welcomed by a large part of the opposition. “He will not dare to come, and if does, he’ll be sent to prison.”
Saakashvili's statement was not welcomed by a large part of the opposition spectrum either - Saakashvili with his statement returns us to bipolarity and pours water on the mill of the Georgian Dream, if the opposition is multipolar, it will gain more votes and defeat the Georgian Dream. Such is the essence of this reaction. The main pre-election battles are still ahead.