Georgian parliament approves new constitution in first reading

The new Georgian constitution was passed by parliament in the first
reading today. The new constitution was presented by the Minister of
Justice Zurab Adeishvili. Opposition parties voted against the new
constitution. They claim, that Saakashvili after his resignation in
2013 will take up the post of Prime Minister, given more powers by the
new constitution. Members of the CE Venice Commission have presented
preliminary results of their visit to Tbilisi and several
recommendations to the Georgian parliament concerning the new
constitution. The main issue of the draft is to create a powerful
executive government, claimed Thomas Markert, one of the Commission's
representatives.