Georgian government filed a lawsuit against President Zurabishvili/Collage 24 channels
The Georgian government has filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court against President Salome Zurabishvili. She is accused of refusing to appoint ambassadors proposed by the government.
The Georgian government accuses the president of failing to fulfill her powers
It is the lawsuit that concerns two diplomats, whom the government planned to appoint to represent the country in the UN and Canada, but the president did not seem to agree on their candidacies. However, Zurabishvili herself claims that she approved all the appointments of ambassadors.
Her administration has denied all accusations of violating constitutional authority. The President assures that from January 1 to March 21, she approved all 12 ambassadors, whose candidacies were submitted by the government.
The head of the Georgian Dream party demands to clearly delineate the competences of the president and the government in the matter of appointing ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions countries.
The head of the party, Irakli Kobakhidze, specified that the Constitutional Court should only give an explanation of the current norm of the president's powers when appointing heads of diplomatic missions. At the same time, the lawsuit does not require the impeachment of President Zurabishvili.
The reaction of the opposition
“one-man and authoritarian rule.” The Lelo political party said that with such actions, the ruling party is trying to make the president of the country actually perform the functions of a notary.
The fact that we have switched to a parliamentary model of government means that we have distributed power, and not handed over ourselves or Georgia as a gift to the government. We have interesting processes ahead of us,” Lelo deputy David Usupashvili commented on the events.
What is known about the conflict between Georgian Dream and Zurabishvili
In the 2018 presidential election, the Georgian Dream party “supported the non-partisan candidacy of Zurabishvili. However, after a few years, conflicts began to arise between the president and the ruling party.
Tensions rose after the start of a full-scale Russian war in Ukraine. In March, Zurabishvili criticized Georgian Dream's “half-hearted support” for Ukraine. After that, the government, according to the president, denied her official visits to Europe and meetings with European leaders.
In response, Georgian Spring stated that the president of the country cannot engage in foreign policy without prior approval with the government.
