The most emotional attitude of the society was expressed towards alienation of agricultural lands and towards marriage

According to the Speaker, at public considerations the society expressed the most emotional attitude towards alienation of the lands and towards marriage definition. 

He introduced the draft Constitutional Laws on Changes to the Constitution and on Autonomous Republic of Adjara to the Legal Committee. The emotional attitude towards land was principal, though it is important to consider all the factors. “We have analyzed the economic effect of this regulation and saw the share of absence of regulations on lands to the economic growth and attraction of foreign investments. This share in fact is minor and it was one of the factors for adoption of the decision on maximal strict norms for land alienation. The edition is under revision and soon we will have the ability to formulate the edition on the basis of various considerations”.

As to marriage definition, the task of the ruling party is to prevent triggering homophobia and anti-Western attitudes. Absence of such definition in the Constitution will facilitate to increase of homophobia and anti-Western attitudes. The remarks were expressed about the political administration system and one of the remarks concerned the Presidential election.

“Indirect Presidential election is better for the system. We consider that the President shall better be indirectly elected for the Parliamentary system we have in the country. It is underlined in the Venice Commission opinion stating that it is better to have indirectly elected President under the conditions we have. The President shall be equipped with the functions of the neutral arbiter”.

Speaking of the Presidential authorities, he noted that the subjects related to political parties are most active in this case. “We substantiated that we do not restrict the Presidential authorities. Only two specifications are to be made. The competences of the President were minimized in 2010 and hence, we could not further restrict or increase them. The Venice Commission confirmed that they share the regulations regarding the status and competences of the President. As they consider, the status and competences of the President and the current system are in full compliance”.

Various opinions were expressed on electoral system. He underlined importance to define the minimal guarantees for stability through 5% threshold, which is legitimate according to the Venice Commission. The Speaker spoke about the bonus system.

“We expressed our position to clearer define the bonus, namely the upper limits and this approach is reflected in the Venice Commission opinion. We can once again confirm our commitment to make bonus clearer, restrict bonus amount to prevent violation of equality principle as called on by the Venice Commission. We share this call and will respectively improve the electoral system and when Venice Commission submits the final opinion, it will positively estimate the electoral system reflected in the Constitution”.