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Public Discussion of the Constitution Failed in Tbilisi

May 16, 2017
 
 Natia Gogolashvili

On May 15, the public discussion of the Constitution of Georgia was failed in the Tbilisi Concert Hall. Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze said the organization commission will hold a session on Tuesday and decide how to continue the process of public discussions.

The organization commission is made up of nine members with Irakli Kobakhidze as a chairman, The commission members are: MPs Tamar Chugoshvili, Irma Inashvili, Sergi Kapanadze, Zurab Tchiaberashvili, experts - Vasil Gonashvii and Tengiz Sharmanashvili; director of the Transparency International – Georgia Eka Gigauri and chief specialist of the parliament chairperson’s office Tornike Tcheishvili are also members of the commission. It is noteworthy that the UNM refused to participate in the public discussions. The President of Georgia also took part in the public discussions.

The law-makers started the public discussions of the bill of the Constitution on May 5 in Kutaisi and met people in 11 cities during the past two weeks (Kutaisi, Ambrolauri, Chokhatauri, Batumi, Zugdidi, Akhaltsikhe, Gori, Telavi, Mtskheta, Rustavi and Tbilisi).

In accordance to the bill, several significant amendments are planned in the Constitution. Namely, the rule of the president’s election will be changed; creation of the election blocs before the elections will be prohibited; the rule of distribution of the mandates as a result of the elections will be changed and the winning political party will receive all undistributed mandates. 

On May 15, the 11th public discussion of the Constitution in the Tbilisi Concert Hall started in noise – Constitution to People! We fight against you - Political and Economic Elites! The members of the Auditoria 115 reminded the people gathered in the Concert Hall of the miners, who died in Tkibuli and demanded the constitutional guarantees of safe labor. 

“We demand the regulations on the land; we demand protection of workers and employees in our state,” the member of the Auditoria 115 Irakli Kupradze said.

“We want to discuss the social rights, Article 94 of the Constitution and problems of the workers,” Levan Lortkipanidze said.

The Parliament Speaker Iraklli Kobakhidze called communists to the young people and blamed them in provocations and sabotage. “It is a pity that several dozen young communist does not allow the 2 500 persons to discuss the constitution of Georgia. I want to suggest you to follow the route of Ilia Tchavtchavadze. It was the route of education and knowledge. There will never be a place for young communists in Georgia.”

Another group of citizens also tried to fail the public discussion in the Concert Hall. They protested sale of the land in Georgia to foreigners. Ordinary citizens and politicians were member of the group. Gubaz Sanikidze said the issue of the land is the main issue and it must not be sold to foreign people.

“People have very simple requests and write their request in the Constitution: Georgian Land Is not For Sale!” Sandro Bregvadze said. 

“It is not right. Everything is done to resolve this problem in accordance to our national interests. As we see you do not have information about the land regulations. Respective amendments are planned in the legislation. You do not want to receive the information. You want to make provocations,” Irakli Kobakhidze responded to the part of the society who protested sale of the land to foreign citizens.

“It was provocation. Of course, it was well organized provocation, which aimed to fail and discredit the progressive process. If somebody sincerely believes that today these people behaved well, they are mistaken,” the member of the parliamentary majority Mamuka Mdinaradze said when evaluating the incident in the Concert Hall.
The public discussions of the constitutional amendments convinced the MP Irma Inashvili, a leader of the Alliance of Patriots, in the problems of the society. 

“People are very much concerned with social problems. In the regions people live in extreme poverty and unfortunately during the sessions we did not speak about their problems. It is bad that our people did not have printed copies of the constitution bill so that they could read the text,” Irma Inashvili said.

The members of the European Georgia believe the government shall organize a plebiscite about the proposed amendments. 
Member of the Democratic Movement – United Georgia Giorgi Akhvlediani said the Government refrains to hear different opinion. “They want to achieve the goal with the support of their voters and members of administrative bodies. They want to adjust the constitution, the election system according to their own needs and ignore the public opinion about it.”

We will see in near future whether the government will take the opinion of the people into account. So far, the time and venue of the next public discussion in Tbilisi shall be agreed. 

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