The Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) Party Irakli Kobakhidze, who is rumoured to be the new Parliament Chair, says marriage, as a unity of a man and a women, will apparently be written into the Georgian constitution by the new Parliament of Georgia.
He also said the issue of marriage has been the subject of “speculations that must end.”
Kobakhidze explained that Georgia’s Civil Code already defines marriage as an unity of man and woman, but to strengthen the point, the definition should be written down in the country’s main law, in the Constitution of Georgia.
To implement the changes, the ruling party needs a constitutional majority in the legislative body, which would constitute at least 100 MPs in the 150-seat parliament.
The constitutional majority will also change the rule of electing the president, as under the previous, United National Movement leadership, Georgia’s governance system was modified, with Prime Minister and not a President as the country's principle leader.
GDDG member Giorgi Volski said the Parliament should be strengthened in Georgia, which means that the president must be appointed by Parliament.
Kobakhidze meanwhile said the issue of changing the process of the President’s appointment has not yet been discussed in the GDDG team.
However, the President’s advisor in political issues, Pikria Chikhradze, says Parliament must not adopt a change that would be directed against President Giorgi Margvelashvili personally.
Margvelashvili was also against writing in the definition of marriage in the Constitution.
President stated marriage was already defined in the civil code.
He also put down the idea of holding the referendum over the issue, pushed forward by an initiative group after gathering 200,000 signatures.
Margvelashvili said the referendum could harm state interests and divert attention from more important issues, such as territorial integrity.
He added that Georgia’s inability to hold the referendum in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) would give an additional reason to Russia to declare that the territories are independent republics.
