Situation comes to a head
Georgia’s president does not want to step down
The opposition claims that the election was "stolen". The Georgian government has now declared that it is putting accession talks with the EU on hold. Violent mass protests are the result. The political crisis escalated further on Saturday. The pro-European President Salome Zurabishvili described the government as "illegitimate" on Saturday and declared that she would remain in her post despite her term of office ending in December.
Zurabishvili said in a speech that parliament has no right to elect a successor for her when her term ends in December. She will therefore remain in office. The president and other government critics have described the results of the parliamentary elections at the end of October, in which the Russia-friendly Georgian Dream party received almost 54 percent of the vote, as rigged. Zurabishvili emphasized on Saturday that there is no legitimate parliament, "and therefore an illegitimate parliament cannot elect a new president". Her mandate would remain in place until a legally elected parliament was formed.
Prime Minister: Will not allow a revolution
Meanwhile, the pro-Russian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze declared that Georgia would not allow a revolution like the one Ukraine experienced during the Maidan protests in 2014. At that time, President Viktor Yanukovych, who was protected by the Kremlin, was overthrown. According to the Georgian Interior Ministry, 107 people have been arrested in the capital Tbilisi since Saturday night, when pro-EU demonstrators erected barricades along the central Rustaveli Avenue and threw fireworks at riot police. The riot police dispersed them with water cannons and tear gas.
On Saturday evening, thousands of demonstrators gathered again in Tbilisi. They waved Georgian and EU flags in front of the parliament. "My future depends on what Georgia does right now," 22-year-old Anna Kaulashvili told the AFP news agency. The police have gathered numerous forces.
New election procedure used for the first time
For the first time, the successor to President Zurabishvili, who is critical of the government, will no longer be chosen directly by the people, but by a 300-member electoral assembly consisting of 150 members of parliament and local and regional representatives. The new election procedure was adopted in 2017 as part of a constitutional reform promoted by the Georgian Dream party.
Based on the procedure, it is assumed that the new head of state will be in line with the party of head of government Kobakhidze. According to parliament, the new head of state will take office on December 29 and serve a five-year term.
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