Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to VK
The parliament of Georgia adopted an amendment to the constitution that allows citizens of the European Union to vote and be elected to the top state bodies. The amendment was made due to an opposition demand especially for Bidzina Ivanishvili who has French citizenship. Therefore, any person who was born in Georgia and lived there for at least 10 years could be an MP, prime minister or president without even having Georgian citizenship. The only condition is citizenship of any EU country.
Some deputies of the ruling United National Assembly party proposed extending the criteria to citizens of the EU and NATO countries. However, the proposal wasn’t supported by all parliamentary factions.
The billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili was deprived of Georgian citizenship by presidential act in October 2011 right after his declaration to start political activity aimed at power change in the country. The businessman mentioned that he had the French citizenship. As Georgian laws forbid dual and triple citizenship without the special permission of President, the statement became the reason for depriving of him of his citizenship.
Independent lawyers and experts say that there were serious reasons for deprivation of citizenship. However, they also believe that the authorities made a big mistake in not providing Ivanishvili with second citizenship by presidential order.
Later Ivanishvili tried to retrieve his Georgian citizenship through naturalization, stating he was ready to reject his French passport. However, according to the law of France, he can’t reject French citizenship before he gets the citizenship of any other country, while Georgian laws permit naturalization only for people without citizenship.
Ivanishvili could address the President and request citizenship, but he didn’t do so because “Saakashvili was the man who deprived him of citizenship.”
Later, Ivanishvili threatened Saakashvili with “heavy consequences” for his governance if the President didn’t return his citizenship.
At the same time, international pressure on Tbilisi and demand to give the opposition leader back the opportunity to participate in elections was growing. A way out was found by the opposition Christian-Democratic Movement. According to the constitutional amendments, Ivanishvili could be a deputy, prime minister and even president, as a citizen of France. The billionaire has already stated he would use the opportunity.
Neverhteless, right after adoption of the bill in the first hearing a legal conflict appeared: according to the amendment, only a person who has constantly lived in Georgia for 10 years can participate in elections, while Ivanishvili only came back to Georgia from Russia in 2004. So he demanded that another amendment be made to the constitution.
The fuss about Ivanishvili’s citizenship is about political ambitions. Frequent amendments to the constitution in favor of Ivanishvili do not bring respect to the ruling party, but help to avoid accusations of preventing the main political opponent from participation in the political life.
