Salome Zurabishvili – Picture by Government of Georgia.
Sunday, 16 December 2018, Tbilisi, Georgia: After taking the presidential oath in the historic King Erekle’s Castle at Telavi, Salome Zurabishvili has been sworn in as the fifth and first ever female president of Georgia.
She will hold office for a six-year term. Between 2004 and 2005 she was likewise Georgia’s first female foreign minister.
According to the Georgian constitution, the President of Georgia is head of state and a guarantor of national independence and unity of the country. He/she ensures the functioning of state bodies in accordance with the Constitution. Moreover, the President is the chief representative of Georgia in foreign relations.
The constitutional reform carried out in 2017 introduces a new model of government which is characteristic for a parliamentary republic, meaning that the next president will not be elected directly by the people. The new president after Zurabishvili will be elected for a five-year term by a special 300-member council starting in 2024.
Amongst the partaking dignitaries was former French President Nicolas Sárközy, the Head of the Georgian Royal House, Prince Davit Bagrationi Mukhrani and the latter’s brother Prince Ugo Bagrationi.
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