Constitutional Amendments Proposed

President Saakashvili’s draft amendments for the constitution, unveiled on October 24, propose new dates for parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as a new date for elections in the Adjara Autonomous Republic’s legislative body. The proposed amendments also envisage a slight reduction in the President’s power.

New Election Dates

Presidential and parliamentary elections would be held sometime between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008, according to the document.

The exact date of elections would be up to the President, according to the draft constitutional amendments.

According to the current constitution Presidential elections are originally scheduled for April 2009 and parliamentary elections for spring 2008.

President Saakashvili’s term in office is currently set to expire in January 2009 – five years after he was elected. If approved, the new constitutional amendments would cut President Saakashvili’s term in office by one to five months.

However, the authority of the current Parliament would be extended by several months if the proposed constitutional amendments are approved by the Parliament.

The authority of the Adjara Autonomous Republic’s legislative body – Supreme Council would also be slightly extended.

According to the draft amendments the Adjara’s Supreme Council’s elections would also be held in a period between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008. Originally, the authority of Adjara’s legislative body expires in June, 2008.

The ammendment stipulates that these provisions for the presidential, parliamentarian and Adjarian elections will be applicable only once, in 2008. The document says that after that, elections will be held every five years, three weeks before the expiration of the President’s term in office. The current constitution sets the second Sunday of April as the date of presidential elections.

Presidential Powers

The President will no longer have the right to appoint and sack judges, according to the proposed draft constitutional amendments.

However, the President will remain Chairman of the Justice Council and will continue to deal with the judiciary policy via this position, the document says.

The Parliament should adopt a new relevant law outlining rule of selection of judges, officials say.

Another provision of the document says that new presidential and parliamentary elections should be held if the President dissolves the Parliament twice within four years.

If approved, the draft constitutional amendments will give the President a right to recall a Georgian Ambassador unilaterally without the approval of the Parliament. But the provision that a new Ambassador should be appointed through the Parliament’s consent will remain in force.

‘Controversial Amendment’

Opposition MPs said at the parliamentary session on October 24 that the proposed draft amendment is “highly controversial.”

“We should request the Venice Commission [the Council of Europe’s advisory body for constitutional issues] to assess the proposed draft amendments. The Parliament’s official request is needed for this procedure,” MP Kakha Kukava of the opposition Conservative Party, said.

The opposition also wanted to include Davit Usupashvili and Tina Khidasheli of the opposition Republican Party and Vakhtang Khmaladze (who was actively engaged in drafting the 1995 constitution) in a commission to study the proposed amendments, But MPs from the ruling National Movement party turned down the proposal.

MP Levan Bezhashvili, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Legal Affairs, will chair the special commission to deal with the constitutional amendments.

A separate commission chaired by MP Pavle Kublashvili of the ruling party was also set up to deal with those constitutional amendments that refer to the election of the Adjara Autonomous Republic’s legislative body.

Draft constitutional amendments must undergo at least one month of public discussion before being approved or rejected by the Parliament.