The political council of Georgian Dream publishes a statement. As the ruling party explains, the recent actions of the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, are characterized by "extreme non-objectivity and political bias, which is grossly contrary to the purpose of a non-party constitutional official".
As noted by Georgian Dream, it is their responsibility not to contribute to the undermining of the institution of the President. They also explain that for the same purpose, they consider themselves obliged not to allow anyone to deepen the political confrontation.
"For the past two years, the President of Georgia, Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili, has been making statements more and more often, which are perceived and evaluated negatively, first of all, by the part of the Georgian society that supported her in the 2018 presidential elections, based on our call.
Although such perception and assessment have a solid objective basis, we do not consider it appropriate to respond to Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili's political statements. As the ruling party, we have a special responsibility to protect the highest constitutional institutions of Georgia, including the institution of the President of Georgia.
In the presidential elections of 2018, we supported the candidacy of Salome Zourabichvili precisely with the expectation that she would properly fulfill the function of the impartial president in the parliamentary governance system. We considered that a non-partisan lady, who was a descendant of the famous figures of the First Republic of Georgia and thus embodied the connection between the history of the First Republic of Georgia and modern Georgia, would be the best candidate for this mission. However, unfortunately, Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili chose another path and during the last two years, she clearly showed political bias in favor of the agenda of the radical opposition forces.
In 2018, when she was elected to the position of the President of Georgia, the leadership of Georgian Dream clearly explained to Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili their attitude regarding the fact that despite the support in the elections, she should not have any obligations towards the ruling party. Georgian Dream fully observed this approach from the day Salome Zourabichvili took the oath and is still observing it. It can be seen from this that in supporting the candidacy of Salome Zourabichvili in the 2018 presidential elections, our only goal was to properly establish the above-party institution of the President of Georgia in the parliamentary governance system.
Although Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili's recent actions are characterized by extreme non-objectivity and political bias, which is grossly contrary to the purpose of a non-party constitutional official, our position is that we should refrain from criticizing the President of Georgia as a matter of principle. It is our responsibility not to contribute to the undermining of the institution of the President. For the same purpose, we consider ourselves obliged not to allow anyone to deepen the political confrontation. We must protect the institution of the presidency even when the prestige of this institution is threatened by the incumbent President herself.
In the conditions when the President of Georgia is losing legitimacy in the eyes of the part of the society that supported her in the 2018 elections, and she is not gaining legitimacy in the part of the society that declared her a traitor and a resident in 2018, it is our duty to preserve Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili for the remaining year and a half of her term of office, even the minimum legitimation for the exercise of presidential powers. This also dictates our decision not to enter into a polemic with Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili.
In conclusion, we hope that Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili will not enter into an even more intense confrontation with the majority of Georgian society. Georgian Dream is ready to provide the maximum assistance to the President of Georgia in order to avoid deepening the confrontation with the people," reads the statement.
