Georgia transformed into a parliamentary rule in 2013 where the government holds the executive authority while the President is not involved in carrying out executive power in any form,” said Irakli Kobakhidze, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party chair, at the hearing of President Salome Zourabichvili’s impeachment case at the Constitutional Court.

The GD Chair said that the amendment in the Constitution restricted the presidential power to be the “highest representative in foreign affairs.” He further explained that monarchs and presidents in parliamentary republics have no right to interfere with the government in carrying out domestic or foreign policies.

“German or Spanish constitutions do not have such precise entries as in the Georgian Constitution, but the German President knows it is not his prerogative to interfere with the government’s foreign and domestic policy.

The same refers to the King of Spain. The Spanish Constitution reads the King is the highest representative in foreign relations, but the King knows it is a parliamentary monarchy. Therefore, the government implements foreign policy there, not the King or the monarch,” he said.

The ruling Georgian Dream party decided to impeach President Salome Zourabichvili for violating the Constitution by visiting European Union nations without permission from the government.

The Constitutional Court Plenum will hear the application of 80 legislators, including Georgian Dream Chair Irakli Kobakhidze and Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.