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Constitution of Georgia | |
---|---|
![]() Constitution exhibited at the Parliament building of Georgia | |
Overview | |
Jurisdiction | Georgia |
Created | 2 July 1995 |
Ratified | 24 August 1995 |
Date effective | 17 September 1995 |
System | Unitary parliamentary republic |
Government structure | |
Branches | Four (presidency, executive, legislative, judiciary) |
Chambers | Unicameral |
Executive | Prime Minister and Government |
Judiciary | Constitutional, Supreme, Appellate, Municipal |
Electoral college | Yes (from 2024) |
History | |
First legislature | 25 November 1995 |
First executive | 26 November 1995 |
Amendments | 36 |
Last amended | 29 June 2020 |
Location | Georgian Parliament Building, Tbilisi |
Commissioned by | Third Parliament of Georgia |
Author(s) | State Constitutional Commission of Georgia |
Signatories | Eduard Shevardnadze (as Head of State) Members of the State Constitutional Commission Members of the 3rd Parliament of Georgia |
Full text | |
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Georgia's constitutional history dates back to the 1918-1921 Democratic Republic of Georgia, which existed after the nation declared its independence from the Russian Empire and before its invasion by Soviet Russia. In June 1918, the National Council, the transitional legislative body that operated before the 1919 legislative election, created the Commission for Drafting the Constitutional Foundations of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, a 9-member commission with a socialist-leaning majority. The commission sought to touch upon several main topics, including public regulations, territorial administration, civil liberties, minority rights, the separation of powers, and the economic system.
Following the election of the Constituent Assembly, the latter cancelled the original commission in March 1919 and instead elected a 15-member constitutional commission. That commission was originally successively chaired by Razhden Arsenidze, Konstantine Japaridze, and Petre Saqvarelidze, while 10 of the seats were held by the Social-Democratic Party. Concerns about the slow pace of drafting led the Ministry of Justice to intervene in 1920 and create a "small commission" that involved well-known academics like Ivane Javakhishvili and Ivane Gomarteli.
The first constitution's draft was published on July 8, 1920, resulting in widespread debates between parliamentary parties and branches of government. Prime Minister Noe Zhordania was notably opposed to the draft's direct democracy clauses as incompatible with parliamentarism. Even once the draft was finalized, debates remained about whether its final version should be approved by referendum or a super-majority of Parliament.
Georgia was defined as a decentralized unitary state including three autonomous entities (Abkhazia, Muslim Georgia, and Zakatala), a republican state with a permanent ban on the restoration of monarchy, and a parliamentary republic with three branches of government (a legislature, an executive government, and a judiciary). Unlike that of other parliamentary republics in Europe, the Georgian constitution held no provision for a neutral head of state in the form a president with the power to dissolve the legislature. The Prime Minister (also known as Chairman of the Government) was set to be elected by the Constituent Assembly for a one-year-term, though he did not hold the veto power. The Constituent Assembly was set to be elected by universal, direct, and proportional elections once every three years, while the right to vote was granted to every citizen 20 years and older (including women, making Georgia one of the oldest European democracies granting the right to vote to women). The supreme court of the land was known as the "Senate" and was elected by the Constitutional Assembly, while the constitution provided for a right to jury trial.
The constitution consisted of 17 chapters and 149 articles, almost half of which was devoted to human rights and civil liberties. Equality under the law was recognized, the death penalty was abolished, warrantless search and seizure was banned, and court orders were required for all deprivations of liberty. The constitution recognized freedom of religion, expression, and speech and instituted the separation of church and state. It also granted ethnic minorities the right to unionize and bring to court cases affecting the rights of the group as a whole. The constitution was largely inspired by socialist principles and though the right to property was recognized, agriculture was classified as a field of "special concern", inviting large government interference, and a list of labor privileges was provided, including a 48-hour working week, the ban of child labor, unemployment assistance, workers' compensatory insurance, sanitary regulations, and a minimum wage.
In some aspects, it also lacked certain liberal protections. Freedom of assembly was restricted to unarmed gatherings with government permission, military conscription was mandated, and double nationality was banned. Nonetheless, it was considered one of the most progressive legal documents of its time. West German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher would describe it as "one of the most progressive ones on the European continent, recognizing freedom, democracy and the rule of law, on which today's Europe rests."
The launch of the Red Army's invasion of Georgia on February 15, 1921 forced the Democratic Republic to speed up its adoption and on February 21, the Constituent Assembly approved it unanimously. Only four days later, the government went into exile as Soviet forces captured Tbilisi.
Though the original constitution lasted only four days, it remained a major influence for future Georgian independent governments. On February 21, 1992, the Military Council, which took over power after the 1991-92 coup d'état, declared the Soviet Georgian constitution invalid and restored the 1921 document, although it would never be fully implemented. Until 2010, the preamble of the Georgian constitution read that it was based on the 1921 constitution.
Following the establishment of Soviet power in Georgia, the new authorities abolished via executive decree the Constitution of the Democratic Republic and replaced it with the Constitution of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia on March 2, 1922. That document was passed by the 1st Congress of Georgian Soviets and, although it claimed to preserve Georgia's sovereignty, it was effectively inspired and dependent on the USSR's system of governance.
Soviet Georgia saw four different constitutions. The 1922 version recognized a "dictatorship of the proletariat" and formalized the first Soviet institutions in the country.[1] Divided into 23 chapters and 134 articles, it recognized the All-Georgian Congress of Soviets (AGCS) as the highest authority of the SSR, while the Central Executive Committee operated between AGCS sessions. When the latter was not in session, power was held by its Praesidium and a Council of People's Commissars. Democratically-elected local governments were abolished and replaced by councils meant to represent workers, peasants, and the Red Army. The right to vote was curtailed and private entrepreneurs, religious figures, former public servants, former convicts, and mentally ill individuals were banned from voting. Private ownership of land and the means of production was abolished altogether.[2]
The 1922 constitution allowed the creation of autonomous entities within the Georgian SSR. The Adjarian ASSR, the Abkhazian SSR, and the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast were created based on these provisions.[3]
The adoption of the 1924 Constitution of the USSR and the integration of Georgia into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1922 required the adoption of a new supreme law in Georgia and on April 4, 1927, the 4th Congress of Georgian Soviets adopted the Second Soviet Georgian Constitution, made of eight chapters and 114 articles. This document limited the constitutional sovereignty of Georgia in favor of the USSR by removing Georgia's powers over foreign, maritime, defense, and trade policies. A system of "prosecutorial supervision" was implemented, formalizing the Communist Party's control of the judiciary system. The status of Adjara, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia were also recognized in the 1927 constitution.[4]
The abolition of the Transcaucasian SFSR in 1936 led to the adoption of a third constitution on February 13, 1937 by the 8th Congress of Georgian Soviets. Made of 14 chapters and 162 articles, it was nicknamed the "Stalinist Constitution" and set as a stated goal the "building of a socialist society in Georgia". It completely overhauled the system of governance in the Georgian SSR, replacing the Congress of Soviets with the Supreme Soviet, elected for a four-year term in "universal, equal, direct, and secret elections". The body convened twice a year, while state power was exercised by the Praesidium of the Supreme Soviet between sessions. The highest executive authority was held by the Council of People's Commissars, itself elected by the Supreme Soviet. Formally, freedoms of speech, press and assembly were recognized, even though large wave of repressions took place during that constitution's existence. A supreme court was established, elected by the Supreme Soviet for a five-year term, while the Prosecutor General of the USSR was given direct supervision over Georgian prosecutorial agencies.[5]
The 1978 Soviet Union constitution proclaimed that socialism had "completely and finally won and led to the evolution of the dictatorship of the proletariat into a common people's state" and individual republics were required to draft new constitutions. In Georgia, that process was led by a constitutional commission chaired by Eduard Shevardnadze. An attempt to recognize Russian as Georgia's official language led to large-scale demonstrations and clashes between student groups and Soviet authorities, the latter eventually forced to drop that amendment. On April 16, 1978, the 8th Session of the 9th Supreme Soviet adopted the Fourth Soviet Georgian Constitution, featuring a preamble, 11 sections, 22 chapters, and 185 articles.
The 1978 constitution was more complex that its predecessors. It increased the term of Supreme Soviets to five years and provided for majoritarian, universal, equal, and direct elections of its 300 members. The voting age was set at 21 years old, although exceptions were included for those 18 years and older. The Council of People's Commissars was replaced by a Council of Ministers, in which the head executives of Adjara and Abkhazia were also represented. Though decision-making remained a top-down system effectively controlled by Moscow and the Communist Party, this constitution nominally expanded judicial independence. And while private property remained illegal, several types of property ownership systems were listed, including state, cooperative, public, individual, and mixed.
The 1978 constitution was the only Soviet Georgian constitution to be amended during its existence. First amendments were introduced in 1984 and 1986. Following the 1990 Supreme Soviet elections that saw the victory of anti-communist and pro-independence forces, the constitution was again amended in 1990 and 1991.[6]
Amendments to the 1978 Soviet Georgian constitution were adopted days after the 1990 legislative election that saw the victory of anti-communist and nationalist forces, headed by dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia. The first amendments removed the words "Soviet Socialist" from the republic's name and restored much of the symbolism of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, including its flag, coat of arms, and anthem. The preamble was amended to remove all mention of the USSR and Article 6 (recognizing the supremacy of the Communist Party) was repealed. Further amendments were adopted once Georgia declared its independence on April 9, 1991, lowering the number of MPs from 300 to 250, transitioning local government councils into prefectures, and creating the post of President of Georgia - a post that would be further regulated by the 1991 Presidential Elections Act.
The overthrow of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia was followed by an unelected Military Council that abolished the 1978 constitution altogether and formally restored the 1921 constitution, although this decision remained a mere formality and Georgia fell into a constitutional vacuum. To address this challenge, the new Parliament elected in 1992 passed the State Powers Act, which was intended to serve as a provisional law regulating the republic's governance before a new constitution could be adopted.
The State Powers Act, which came to be also known as the "Short Constitution", was made of eight chapters and 33 articles, and radically changed the republican system of governance. It transformed Georgia into a parliamentary republic, albeit with a parliamentary chairman elected via direct suffrage who would furthermore need a super-majority confirmation in Parliament to be recognized as "Head of State". The latter was responsible for creating a government, serving as Supreme Commander-in-Chief, appointing and dismissing military officials, appointing ambassadors, and representing the country in domestic and international matters. A lack of clarity in the State Powers Act gave him broad powers, which constitutional experts have seen as a violation of the separation of powers.
Eduard Shevardnadze was the only person to hold the title of Head of State under the State Powers Act, which was in force until the adoption of the Constitution in 1995.
To address the challenges posed by the lack of a constitutional framework, Eduard Shevardnadze introduced a resolution on February 16, 1993 to create a State Constitutional Commission, charged with modernizing the 1921 Constitution. On March 25, Parliament passed two resolutions: one creating the State Commission with enumerated powers and an approved set of bylaws and a second one confirming Eduard Shevardnadze himself as Chairman of the State Commission.
A total of 118 members were confirmed as members of the commission, more than half of them being sitting members of Parliament. The commission included prominent legal experts, economists, historians, public figures, and academicians from the Georgian Academy of Sciences and Tbilisi State University. On April 3, the commission voted to appoint Givi Intskirveli (Dean of the Law Faculty at TSU) and Vakhtang Khmaladze (Dean of the Legal Theory Department at TSU) as deputy chairmen. Professor Avtandil Demetrashvili was selected as Secretary of the State Commission. The same day, the Commission was divided into 15 working groups, each chaired by one member and focused on particular topics.
Working Group | Chairperson |
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Analysis of the 1921 Constitution | Levan Toidze |
Analysis of the existing legislative framework | Konstantine Kemularia |
Legislative powers | Davit Melikishvili |
Constitutional oversight | John Khetsuriani |
Judicial powers | Mindia Ugrekhelidze |
Socio-economic affairs | Vladimer Papava |
Security and national defense | Nodar Natadze |
Foreign policy | Tedo Patarashvili |
Ethnic minority issues | Zurab Zhvania |
International law and foreign comparison | Levan Aleksidze |
Preamble | Mikheil Naneishvili |
Human rights | Kartlos Gharibashvili |
Executive powers | Tedo Ninidze |
Political and electoral rights | Davit Kupreishvili |
Territorial administration | Irakli Shengelaia |
Eventually, Parliament passed a follow-up resolution approving the working plan of the commission. Working groups were required to work independently to develop individual concepts, after which their work was to be summarized by an editorial group chaired by Shevardnadze himself. Once the State Commission voted to approve the conceptual draft of the constitution, the editorial group was to work on proper legal language. Soon after the commission started its work, it decided to abandon the idea of modernizing the 1921 constitution, instead choosing to write an entirely new constitution, albeit inspired by the original document.
The commission's Secretariat was responsible for organizing the body's working regime. It held seminars and conferences, almost exclusively in Tbilisi, to study major constitutional issues and take into account the experience of other states. The first, held on April 19, 1993, was dedicated to territorial administration and was led by Thomas Fleiner-Gerster, director of the Institute of Federalism at the University of Fribourg. A seminar on separation of powers was held 10 days later with Professor Lawrence Lessig of the University of Chicago. On May 12, a constitutional economics seminar took place with German academic Helmut Fromm.
In popular culture, the role played by Lawrence Lessig in drafting the Georgian constitution was mentioned in an episode of the U.S. television show The West Wing.
Working groups also traveled in Europe and the United States throughout the drafting process. Several commission members traveled to the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw to work on framing human rights into the constitution. The Venice Commission actively assisted the Commission's secretariat in organizing conferences in Rome and Bologna to discuss judicial and procedural issues. In Budapest, a Georgian delegation learned about the Hungarian experience in including national minority rights in the constitution. In October 1994, a 10-member commission delegation traveled to the Chicago School of Law to take part in discussions with Lawrence Lessig and other major American and European constitutional experts, including Stephen Holmes, Herman Schwartz, Alexander Blankenagel, and András Sajó, with the goal of reconciling various parts of the constitution's draft with each other.
Besides the work of the State Constitutional Commission, 12 separate drafts were submitted by various organizations to be considered by the commission. These included political parties (Voice of the Nation, National-Democratic Party, Republican Party, People's Party, Communist Party, Union of the Daughters of God, and the Union of Citizens of Georgia), private individuals (former Soviet Georgia Justice Minister Alexandre Shushanashvili and a group of young constitutionalists from the Faculty of International Law of Tbilisi State University), civil society groups (Society for the Defense of Workers' Interests and the Association of Young Lawyers of the People's Front of Georgia), and even a private bank (Aisi). Though the commission formally studied each one of these proposals, none of the ideas presented would eventually be included in the constitution's final draft.
MAY 29 - JULY 3 (From Shevardnadze's draft proposal being introduced to the Constitutional Commission giving its final endorsement)
JULY 3 - SEPTEMBER 17 (From submitting the draft to final signing)
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