Salome Zourabichvili is technically not Georgia’s president after she violated the constitution, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said.
"Salome Zourabichvili is not the president of Georgia. She herself recognized the legitimacy of the Constitutional Court when she filed a suit there. And this is the Constitutional Court that established that Salome Zourabichvili is an illegitimate president, that she is a president who violated the constitution," Irakli Kobakhidze said.
He added that the only reason Salome Zourabichvili is formally retaining the presidential office is the support of the United National Movement. According to the PM, after the opposition did not vote in the parliament to impeach Zurabichvili, she became "another ordinary puppet of the UNM."
Last year, Zurabichvili made several visits abroad without the prime minister’s consent. The ruling Georgian Dream party turned to the Constitutional Court in an effort to impeach the president. The court supported the remonstrance to remove Zurabichvili but the ruling party did not garner the sufficient number of votes in the parliament. The opposition did not support Zurabichvili’s impeachment.
Earlier, Zurabichvili appealed to the Constitutional Court with a lawsuit against the foreign agents law. Similar lawsuits were filed by the opposition, NGOs and media outlets. In late August, the court held three sessions, hearing out the positions of the claimants. They demand that the law be recognized as not complying with Article 78 of the Constitution, according to which governing bodies must take all measures to integrate Georgia into the EU.
