Amending the Constitution and creating or abolishing local self-government entities are the two issues where the Constitution of Georgia attributes special importance to the obligatory nature of the engagement of the population in the decision-making process. As with the constitutional amendments, a preliminary discussion of the issue with the public is, too, an obligatory procedure during the creation and abolition of self-governing entities. Violating this condition endangers the legitimacy of a decision that is made and entails the risk of it being unconstitutional.
According to the Georgian Constitution, "The abolition of a self-governing entity or a revision of its administrative borders must be preceded by consultations with the self-governing entity" since "the citizens of Georgia registered in the self-governing entity address the issues of local significance through local self-government."
When making the decision to abolish the status of a self-governing entity for seven self-governing cities, the Government of Georgia failed to properly fulfil the constitutional obligation, specifically, to hold consultations in accordance with the procedure established by the law. Later on, Parliament of Georgia, whose principal function is to exercise oversight over the enforcement of laws and over the government, did not consider the adherence to this constitutional obligation when discussing the government's initiative.
Considering all of the above, we call on the Members of Parliament of Georgia and, first and foremost, on the political forces outside the parliamentary majority, to exercise their legal right and appeal to the Constitutional Court with the request to deem unconstitutional the resolution passed by Parliament of Georgia on 15 June 2017.