Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili says a controversial media bill passed by parliament that critics call a threat to free speech is “unacceptable."
It’s great that she’s gonna veto a bad bill, but isn’t it counterproductive to democracy if a president can just veto what the parliament does? Like one person holding the power of a whole parliament?
Once vetoed the bill goes back to the legislative branch, where they can overrule a veto if it reaches a certain supermajority. Or they could change it and send it back up the line as a new bill
I think usually something like that is intended to as a counterweight, to prevent power from centralising.
However, to prevent the scales from tipping too badly, a sufficient majority in parliament can override the veto, and I believe the party that’s pushing this (Georgian Dream) has enough seats to be able to do this.
(Caveat: I’m not Georgian, so this is just based on somewhat above average interest in politics and in the country, following my local news.)
I think it’s supposed to act as a soft power veto by sending the bill back for one more reading. Unfortunately soft power is not a thing in ex-Eastern bloc countries
It’s great that she’s gonna veto a bad bill, but isn’t it counterproductive to democracy if a president can just veto what the parliament does? Like one person holding the power of a whole parliament?
Once vetoed the bill goes back to the legislative branch, where they can overrule a veto if it reaches a certain supermajority. Or they could change it and send it back up the line as a new bill
A veto will only postpone the bill.
Could you please explain how this works? What’s the point of the veto then?
I think usually something like that is intended to as a counterweight, to prevent power from centralising.
However, to prevent the scales from tipping too badly, a sufficient majority in parliament can override the veto, and I believe the party that’s pushing this (Georgian Dream) has enough seats to be able to do this.
(Caveat: I’m not Georgian, so this is just based on somewhat above average interest in politics and in the country, following my local news.)
I think it’s supposed to act as a soft power veto by sending the bill back for one more reading. Unfortunately soft power is not a thing in ex-Eastern bloc countries
Ok, that makes sense in principle, although, as you said, it leaves much room for abuse. Thanks for explaining it!