To AFP, the pro-European head of state highlights that “no one outside Georgia, among our democratic partners, recognized the result of the legislative elections” at the end of October, in which the pro-Moscow party in power won an absolute majority under accusations of fraud
The President of Georgia, Salomé Zourabichvili, pro-European, announced her refusal to abandon her mandate, which ends this year, until new legislative elections are scheduled in the country, in the midst of a political crisis.
“As long as there are no new elections and a parliament that elects a new president according to new rules, my mandate will continue”, declared Zourabichvili, in an exclusive interview with the French agency AFP this Sunday.
Georgia has been divided since the ruling Georgian Dream declared victory in the October 26 legislature. Pro-EU opposition parties denounced the elections as marred by irregularities.
The latter are boycotting the new parliament and Zourabichvili tried to have the election results annulled by the Constitutional Court.
“No one outside Georgia, among our democratic partners, recognized the results of the elections”, highlighted Zourabichvili, who presents himself as the “only legitimate institution in the country”.
The newly elected parliament announced that it will elect the next President on the 14th and that the investiture, for a five-year term, should take place on December 29th.
Last week, Georgian Dream named Mikheil Kavelachvili, a former football player who entered politics on the far right, as its candidate for this position.
Due to constitutional changes imposed since 2017, the President will, for the first time, be chosen by an electoral college and not by popular vote.
With the Georgian Dream controlling the electoral college, Kavelachvili’s election is considered a done deal.
