Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has left the Orbeliani Palace and the presidential seat after a hardline critic of the West was sworn in as her successor amid widespread public protests.
Georgia, a Black Sea nation of 3.7 million, has been mired in political turmoil since October’s disputed parliamentary elections and the ruling Georgian Dream party’s controversial decision in late November to suspend Tbilisi’s EU accession talks.
The country’s pro-EU opposition has accused the government of undermining Georgia’s European aspirations.
On Sunday, Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, took the oath of office as Georgia’s new president.
Speaking to protesters gathered outside her official residence in Tbilisi after Kavelashvili’s inauguration—an event she described as a “parody”—Zourabichvili said: “I will leave from here, I will come to you, and I will be with you. This building belongs to no one; it was a symbol as long as a legitimate president sat here. I take [this] legitimacy with me.
“Legitimacy comes from only one source, and that source is you. Where there is no trust from the people, there can be no legitimacy. That is why I will come to you and be with you.”
Zourabichvili said that Kavelashvili was not duly picked, as the lawmakers who chose him were elected in an October parliamentary election that she claims was marked by fraud.
Zourabichvili’s claims are backed by the country’s four main pro-EU opposition parties, which have boycotted parliament since the election.
Georgian Dream got almost 54% of the official vote in October’s election.
Local and international election monitors have also said the vote was marked by electoral violations that could have affected the outcome of the ballot.
The country’s pro-EU opposition has accused the government of undermining Georgia’s European aspirations.
On Sunday, Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, took the oath of office as Georgia’s new president.
Speaking to protesters gathered outside her official residence in Tbilisi after Kavelashvili’s inauguration—an event she described as a “parody”—Zourabichvili said: “I will leave from here, I will come to you, and I will be with you. This building belongs to no one; it was a symbol as long as a legitimate president sat here. I take [this] legitimacy with me.
“Legitimacy comes from only one source, and that source is you. Where there is no trust from the people, there can be no legitimacy. That is why I will come to you and be with you.”
Zourabichvili said that Kavelashvili was not duly picked, as the lawmakers who chose him were elected in an October parliamentary election that she claims was marked by fraud.
Zourabichvili’s claims are backed by the country’s four main pro-EU opposition parties, which have boycotted parliament since the election.
Georgian Dream got almost 54% of the official vote in October’s election.
Local and international election monitors have also said the vote was marked by electoral violations that could have affected the outcome of the ballot.
Calls for ‘new and fair elections’
The pro-EU Zourabichvili criticized the Georgian Dream party and its founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, for refusing to resolve the political crisis gripping Georgia by rejecting calls for “new, free, and genuine elections.”
She said: “This was my call, my proposal [to hold elections], because there is always a way out when you think about the country and when you care for the country.
“And what was the response to this proposal? The response was threats against me, which are ineffective. The response was cynicism towards you […] The response was repression, violence, […] a war against its own people, against the will of its own people, and the response is the parody happening in parliament right now, at this very moment.”
Kavelashvili, a former professional soccer player, is a loyalist of Ivanishvili, a reclusive billionaire ex-prime minister who is widely seen as Georgia’s de facto leader.
On Friday, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Ivanishvili, saying he was spearheading Georgia’s current anti-Western and pro-Russian turn.
The presidential standoff is seen as a watershed moment in Georgia that had until recently been regarded as among the most democratic and pro-Western of the former Soviet states.
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