Adoption of New Constitution Postponed
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 12 Oct.'10 / 12:57

Lawmakers decided not to pass the draft of constitutional amendments on Tuesday, as it was initially planned, and to adopt the new constitution either on October 14 or October 15.

Parliamentary Chairman, Davit Bakradze, accepted a proposal of lawmakers from the Christian-Democratic Movement requesting to postpone the third reading for several days on the ground that they had not enough time to read the final text as it was distributed just before the start of parliamentary sitting on October 12.

Bakradze said it would be reasonable to give lawmakers few days and to adopt the text “in two or three days”.

Council of Europe’s advisory body for legal affairs, Venice Commission, has called on the Georgian authorities to wait for its final recommendations and to take them “into careful consideration” before finalizing adoption of constitutional amendments.

The Venice Commission is expected to discuss Georgia’s constitutional reform and adopt its final recommendations at its session on October 15.

The Parliament is most likely to discuss the draft with its final reading on October 15, as October 14 is a religious holiday in Georgia.

On October 11 ruling party lawmaker were saying that there was no need to delay adoption of the draft and to wait for the Venice Commission’s final recommendations, citing that the Parliament was already aware of Commission’s preliminary opinion.

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