The Constitution of Georgia is the supreme law of Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

. It was approved by the Parliament of Georgia

Parliament of Georgia

Parliament of Georgia is the supreme legislature of Georgia. It is unicameral and has 150 members, known as deputies, from which 75 members are proportional representatives and 75 are elected through single-member district plurality system, representing their constituencies...

 on August 24 1995. It entered into force on October 17. The Constitution replaced the Decree on State Power of November 1992 which had functioned as an interim basic law.

Early constitutional history

Under Gamsakhurdia Georgia had continued to function under the Soviet-era constitution of 1978, which was based on the 1977 constitution of the Soviet Union. The first postcommunist parliament amended that document extensively. In February 1992, the Georgian National Congress (the alternate parliament elected in 1990) formally designated the Georgian constitution of February 21, 1921, as the effective constitution of Georgia. That declaration received legitimacy from the signatures of Jaba Ioseliani and Tengiz Kitovani, at that time two of the three members of the governing Military Council. In February 1993, Shevardnadze called for extensive revisions of the 1921 constitution. Characterizing large sections of that document as wholly unacceptable, Shevardnadze proposed forming a constitutional commission to draft a new version by December 1993.

2004 Amendments

On January 4, Mikhail Saakashvili won the Georgian presidential election, 2004 with an overwhelming majority of 96% of the votes cast. Constitutional amendments were rushed through Parliament in February strengthening the powers of the President to dismiss Parliament and creating the post of Prime Minister. Zurab Zhvania

Zurab Zhvania

Zurab Zhvania was a prominent Georgian politician, having served as Prime Minister of Georgia and Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia as well as Minister without Portfolio. Zhvania assumed premiership on 18 February 2004 and remained on the position until his death on 3 February 2005...

 was appointed Prime Minister. Nino Burjanadze

Nino Burjanadze

Nino Burjanadze is a Georgian politician and lawyer who served as Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia from November 2001 to June 2008...

, the interim President, became Speaker of Parliament.

2010 Amendments

On October 15 2010, the Parliament of Georgia adopted with 112 votes to five major amendments to the constitution, which will significantly reduce powers of the next president in favor of Prime Minister and the government. The new constitution will go into force upon the inauguration of the next president, who will be elected in the elections in October, 2013.