"Ivanishvili to automatically lose PM post if he gets Georgian citizenship'

Bidzina Ivanishvili has not worked as Prime Minister when he had dual citizenship, Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze said. At the moment, Ivanishvili is a French citizen, she said at a briefing on Monday.

"If he gets the Georgian citizenship and has dual citizenship, he will automatically lose the post of Prime Minister, because a person with dual citizenship can not be Prime Minister in accordance with the constitution. Moreover, EU citizen has the right to hold the post. This is nonsense which occurred after the former authorities changed the constitution. We spoke about this absurd throughout this year that one can not change the Constitution upon one person's desire. A Georgian citizen has the right to become Prime Minister, if he refuses the second citizenship. But if he has dual citizenship, he has no right to occupy such senior positions as the president, prime minister and speaker of the parliament. The person having the dual citizenship, Georgian citizenship is in the worst position, while an EU citizen is in the best position."

On Saturday, Prime Minister Ivanishvili said that Georgian legislation is so knotty that if he regains the Georgian citizenship, he will lose the post of Prime Minister. Thus, he explained that he fails to regain the citizenship yet even the judgment entitles him with this.


/Trend/