| Constitution of Georgia | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Constitution of Georgia In TheParliament | |
| Overview | |
| Original title | საქართველოს კონსტიტუცია |
| Jurisdiction | Georgia |
| Created | 2 July 1995 |
| Ratified | 24 August 1995; 30 years ago (1995-08-24) |
| Date effective | 17 October 1995 |
| System | Unitaryparliamentary republic (according to the last Amendment) |
| Government structure | |
| Branches | Three (executive, legislature and judiciary) |
| Chambers | Unicameral[note 1] |
| Executive | Prime Minister-ledCabinet of Ministers responsible to theParliament; President as ceremonialhead of state (according to the last Amendment) |
| Judiciary | Supreme, Appellate, City/Magistrate Constitutional |
| History | |
| Amendments | 36 |
| Last amended | 29 June 2020 |
| Location | The Parliament of Georgia |
| Author(s) | State Constitutional Commission of Georgia |
| Signatories | The members of State Constitutional Commission and Parliament of Georgia |
| Full text | |
 Constitution of Georgia (2018) atWikisource | |
| საქართველოს კონსტიტუცია at GeorgianWikisource | |
| Wikisource | |
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|---|
Legislature |
Judiciary |
 Georgia portal |
TheConstitution of Georgia (Georgian:საქართველოს კონსტიტუცია,sakartvelos k'onst'it'utsia) is the supreme law of the nation ofGeorgia. It was approved by theParliament of Georgia on 24 August 1995 and entered into force on 17 October 1995. The Constitution replaced the Decree on State Power of November 1992 which had functioned as an interim basic law following thedissolution of the Soviet Union.
The history of Georgian constitutionalism begins in the twentieth century, when on 26 May 1918, theDemocratic Republic of Georgia adopted theAct of Independence and began drafting the Constitution. The drafting of the constitution lasted for three years. On 21 February 1921, facing the onset of Soviet aggression, theConstituent Assembly of Georgia adopted a constitution of theDemocratic Republic of Georgia which was the first modernfundamental law in the nation's history, but which, in fact, failed to fulfill its function and lasted only four days.[2] Georgia then adopted four Soviet constitutions in 1922, 1927, 1937, and 1978, which were typical Soviet constitutions and did not differ in any way from the constitutions of theRussian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic.[3]
The attempt to remove the constitutional status of Georgian SSR in 1978 caused a majorpolitical crisis. The proposal was ultimately withdrawn by the Soviet government.
On 28 October 1990, the first multi-party elections of the Supreme Council of the Georgian SSR were held in Georgia. Just 16 days after the election, the Supreme Council made a number of changes to the still-in-force 1978 Soviet constitution. The words "Soviet Socialist" were removed from the name of the country and the state was renamed "Republic of Georgia", state symbols were changed, the leading role of the Communist Party was abolished andpolitical pluralism was introduced.[3][4]
At the end of 1991, the powers of theSupreme Council of Georgia, the President of the Republic and the Government were terminated in an unconstitutional manner. On 6 January 1992, theMilitary Council of the Republic of Georgia (Triumvirate) and the Provisional Government were established. The Military Council repealed the revised Soviet transitional constitution and legislation, and on 21 February 1992 adopted the Declaration on the Restoration of the 1921 Constitution. In the same year, the Military Council was dissolved and theState Council of the Republic of Georgia was established.[5] The restored constitution of 1921 suffered even worse fate than it had in 1921 - it did not actually take effect on any day because it was out of step with modernity and time.[6]
On 6 November 1992, the Parliament of the Republic of Georgia adopted the Law on State Power, known as the Small Constitution. At that time, this law turned out to be the only act that could replace a basic law in a country left without a constitution.[6]
On 16 February 1993, the Speaker of theParliament of Georgia, head of stateEduard Shevardnadze submitted to the Parliament a proposal to establish aState Constitutional Commission of Georgia, which was to draft not a new constitution, but a draft of the new version of the 1921 Constitution.[7]
On 25 March 1993, theParliament of Georgia adopted a resolution on the establishment of the State Constitutional Commission of Georgia and the approval of its Statute. On the basis of this statute,Eduard Shevardnadze, Chairman of theParliament of Georgia and the Head of State, was elected as the Chairman of the State Constitutional Commission. Prof.Givi Intskirveli, Dean of the Faculty of Law ofTbilisi State University andVakhtang Khmaladze were elected as his deputies. Prof.Avtandil Demetrashvili was elected as the secretary of the commission. The Constitutional Commission included members of the parliament, lawyers, economists, historians, the President and academicians of theGeorgian Academy of Sciences and professors ofTbilisi State University, a total of 118 members.[8][9]
| Group | Head |
|---|---|
| Analysis of the 1921 Constitution | Levan Toidze |
| Analysis of Ongoing Legislative Activities | Constantine Kemularia |
| Legislative Issues | David Melikishvili |
| Issues of Constitutional Oversight | Johnny Khetsuriani |
| Judicial Issues | Mindia Ugrekhelidze |
| Socio-economic relations issues | Vladimer Papava |
| Security and Defense Issues | Nodar Natadze |
| Foreign Affairs Issues | Tedo Patarashvili |
| National Minority Issues | Zurab Zhvania |
| International Law and Legislation of Foreign Countries | Levan Aleksidze |
| Preamble Issues | Mikheil Naneishvili |
| Human Rights Issues | Kartlos Gharibashvili |
| Executive Issues | Tedo Ninidze |
| Political and suffrage issues | David Kupreishvili |
| Territorial arrangement issues | Irakli Shengelaia |
According to one of the resolutions of the Parliament, the projects developed by the working groups were to be united with the editorial team; The final version of the Constitution was to be adopted first by the State Constitutional Commission and then by theParliament of Georgia. The draft adopted in this way was to be put to a universal vote - the constitution was to be adopted by the people. During the working prosses, some substantial changes were made to this plan. Instead of adopting the 1921 Constitution, it was decided to adopt a completely new Constitution. Various conferences and seminars were organized by the Secretariat of the Commission in 1993–1995 to study the problems in depth and take into account the experience of the states. The Secretariat was actively assisted by theVenice Commission.[10]
In early 1995, in addition to Eduard Shevardnadze's draft, the Constitutional Commission already had 12 drafts submitted by various political groups, organizations and citizens.All the projects were studied in more or less detail at different levels of the commission, there was also an attempt to develop a reconciled version.
In May 1995, the final discussions began at the plenary sessions of the Constitutional Commission. The discussion was based on the draft presented by Eduard Shevardnadze. On 2 July, the State Constitutional Commission passed the draft by 64 votes against 4 and submitted it to theParliament of Georgia for approval.[11]
The forms of state arrangement established by the Constitutional Commission turned out to be unacceptable for the parliament. The first principles of the arrangement were removed from the draft constitution, and then the form ofsemi-presidential republic was changed to a version similar to thepresidential republic.
On 24 August 1995, at 5:50 pm, theParliament of the Republic of Georgia adopted the Constitution of Georgia by 159 votes to 8. On 17 September 1995, members of the State Constitutional Commission and the Parliament of Georgia signed the official text of the Constitution at theGovernment House, where theSupreme Council of the Republic of Georgia proclaimed theAct on the Restoration of Georgia's Independence.
On 4 January,Mikhail Saakashvili won theGeorgian presidential election, 2004 with an overwhelming majority of 96 percent of the votes cast. Constitutional amendments were rushed through Parliament in February strengthening the powers of the president to dismiss parliament and creating the post of prime minister.Zurab Zhvania was appointed prime minister andNino Burjanadze, the interim president, became speaker of parliament.
On 15 October 2010, the Parliament of Georgia adopted with 112 votes to five major amendments to the constitution, which significantly reduced powers of the president of Georgia in favor of the prime minister and the government. The new constitution went into force upon the 17 November 2013[12] inauguration ofGiorgi Margvelashvili, the winner of the2013 presidential election.[13]
On 26 September 2017, the Parliament of Georgia adopted the much-debated constitutional amendments with 117 voting in favor and two against. The vote was boycotted by the opposition. According to the new legislation, direct presidential elections are to be abolished and the country will transfer to fully proportional parliamentary representation in 2024.[14][15] On 9 October, PresidentGiorgi Margvelashvili vetoed the amendments and returned the draft bill to the Parliament with his objections, but the Parliament overrode the veto and approved the initial version on 13 October.[16] Further amendments, incorporating severalVenice Commission-recommended changes, were adopted on 21 March 2018.[17]
The following amendments were in the constitution.
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