The Failed Impeachment and Georgia's Political Landscape

By Malkhaz Matsaberidze

Thursday, November 9, 2023

Last month, on October 18, 2023, a historic session of the Parliament of Georgia took place. The ruling political party was not able to bring the impeachment procedure of the president to an end and could not depose Salome Zourabichvili. One of the political intrigues disappeared - the question of whether the ruling political power would replace Salome Zourabichvili was answered, but many different versions remained as to what was the purpose of the impeachment process initiated by the Georgian Dream.

It is certain that the confrontation of the Georgian Dream with the president will continue, and in more acute and offensive forms. The Georgian Dream continues to claim that the impeachment process of the president was initiated in order to protect the constitution, and that Zourabichvili violated the constitution by holding several meetings in Europe without the government's permission. The constitutional court confirmed the violation of the constitution by the president with a majority vote (6 votes against 3), but the vote in the parliament stopped the impeachment of the president.

86 parliamentarians supported the impeachment, instead of the required 100 votes. The Georgian Dream remained angry. According to their statements, Zourabichvili remains only formally the president, and they have already threatened to file a criminal case in the prosecutor's office.

According to some opposition politicians and analysts, the main goal of the impeachment initiated by the Georgian Dream was not to oust Zourabichvili, but to divert attention from scandalous topics. The list of such topics is impressive: Covering up the Shovi tragedy and the problems at the Rikoti Pass, sanctioning of Partskhaladze by the USA, and exposing him as a Russian agent as well as the question of Georgia's complex EU integration process.

In this direction, Georgia has fulfilled only three of the 12 recommendations. Instead of addressing these issues, the impeachment process took the front seat. The impeachment process of the president was perceived negatively in the West.

This is unanimously noted by the opposition parties that the real goal of the impeachment is to prevent the Georgian Dream from getting the candidate status. Another consequence of the impeachment process is the loss of confidence in the opposition. For a long time, there was a version in the media that the Georgian Dream would be able to recruit a part of the opposition members represented in the parliament and collect the 100 votes needed for impeachment.

At the same time, they insisted that they would gather these votes in the United National Movement. Such a version was spread with such eagerness that the UNM refused to enter the parliament hall to vote, in order to avoid any misunderstanding. In the end, according to Salome Zourabichvili's request, a large part of the opposition did not enter the hall at the impeachment hearing. Nevertheless, there is still a version that if he had trusted the Georgian Dream, he would have managed to buy the necessary number of votes from the opposition.

Many opposition politicians and analysts insist that the entire impeachment process was a sham and represented a political game where Bidzina Ivanishvili was the main winner.

According to the supporters of this version, Salome Zourabichvili has never actually confronted Bidzina Ivanishvili and she didn't confront her this time either, she didn't mention that the Georgian Dream operates under Bidzina Ivanishvili's mandate. What did Ivanishvili win?

Salome Zourabichvili has become a political figure capable of attracting a part of the Western-oriented electorate that will no longer vote for the Georgian Dream due to its anti-Western rhetoric and pro-Russian politics.

It is difficult to find out in these versions, it is difficult to convince the supporters of the existence of the alliance between Salome Zourabichvili and Bidzina Ivanishvili, as well as to change the opinion of those who believe that there is no room for any games and that there is really a sharp contradiction between the president and the Georgian Dream.

Despite the differences of opinion and the jealous attitude of the pro-Western opposition towards Salome Zourabichvili, they did not support the impeachment of the president, and President Salome Zourabichvili, the only one in power, firmly and clearly identifies the Western vector of Georgian politics.

The impeachment process and the conflicting statements about whether the president violated the Constitution have exposed constitutional loopholes where the parties have used different articles of the Constitution to make their case.

According to some, there should have been a clear record that the president should not need the approval of the government in case of making a visit, but in case of concluding an agreement. They also point out that the parliamentary republic needs a bicameral parliament. The impeachment process and the conflicting statements about whether the president violated the Constitution or not have exposed constitutional loopholes where the parties have used different articles of the Constitution to make their case.

A large part of the opposition believes that the entry in the constitution, that from 2024 the president will be elected not by the people, but by an electoral college consisting of 300 members, is incorrect. 150 representatives of the regions will be added to the 150-member parliament.

If Georgian Dream managed to depose the president, the appointment of a new president would be completely in the hands of the Georgian Dream, because it is also represented by a majority in the parliament, and dominates in the regions.

Most likely, if the Georgian Dream does not win a majority in the new parliament elected in 2024, the question of revising the existing constitution will arise.

If we return to the current politics, the impeachment of the president did not take place, and this contains certain dangers for the Georgian Dream. In addition to the fact that the president can become a unifier of a certain part of the pro-Western electorate, she can have a say in the event of a confrontation between the Georgian Dream and the opposition after the elections, if the opposition accuses the ruling forces of rigging the elections.