Georgian President becomes an independent figure

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

The “misunderstanding” between President Georgy Margvelashvili and Premier Irakly Garibashvili has reached a dangerous point in recent days. Previously, the President and the Prime Minister softly disputed (publicly as well) on who should go to Brussels for signing the agreement on European association, but now Margvelashvili directly blames the government for the failure of his visit to the USA, which had been agreed with the inviting party.

“Very powerful forces did their best to prevent my visit,” the head of the state said, hinting at the former prime minister and founder of the ruling coalition Georgian Dream, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. According to the president, the former press secretary of Ivanishvili, the Foreign Minister of Georgia, Maya Pandzhikidze, did her best to prevent meetings and speeches in Washington and New York and even hid an invitation from the UN Secretary General, which was dated February 25th, from the presidential administration.

According to a governmental decision, the Premier will go to the U.S. rather than the President. He will speak at the UN General Assembly and at the ecological forum, he also will conduct meetings in Washington, including talks with Barack Obama. By the way, President Margvelashvili had no objections about conducting real talks by the head of the government, but he insisted on his right to fulfil representative functions which are required by the Constitution, including making speeches at the UN and conducting “ceremonial meetings” with the leaderships of the IMF and the World Bank.

These are the only functions of the head of the Georgian state today. It was transformed from “super-presidential” into a parliamentary-presidential republic after Mikhail Saakashvili’s withdrawal. The President is elected by the people, he is the Supreme Commander, he has the right to dissolve the parliament, but all decisions on internal and foreign policy are made by the Premier.

None of former heads of Georgia could build such a system. I mean Presidents Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze and Saakashvili didn’t want to build it, forming a standard vertical power structure in the post-Soviet space and Tbilisi elites.

The personal factor and ambitions of Georgy Margvelashvili, together with constitutional mechanisms, create in Georgia an unprecedented situation of competition between the President and the government, this is a real rather than formal separation of power. It turns the President and the government into two different power centers.

Whether it is good or bad for the country, it is more difficult to say than black-and-white scheme’s supporters think. Considering the typical Caucasus mentality, the low political culture of the society, weak democratic traditions and fragile state institutions, such “power pluralism” could lead not to stable democracy and supremacy of law, but to chaos and constant confrontation, if not civil war.