Georgian President puts pen to constitutional amendments tethering his powers

On March 27 Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili signed constitutional amendments adopted by Parliament that restrict his powers, the Chairman of the Parliament David Usupashvili told reporters on Wednesday.

"We have achieved very important results. The country is developing, reforms are underway. Today the president signed amendments to the Constitution. Probably today they will be published in the Journal of Laws. This means that from tomorrow the law comes into force," Usupashvili said.

According to him, the main result of the amendments is that "as of now, no one in Georgia will ever be able to change a government without elections to which people expressed their confidence".

According to the amendments, the president reserves the right to dismiss the government, but the previous government preserves its powers until Parliament approves the new government. At the same time, the restriction saying that the president has no right to dissolve the parliament within six months after parliamentary election and within six months before the presidential election, remains in force. The sole condition for dissolution of the parliament is a triple refusal of parliament to approve the government appointed by the president.


/Trend/