A pro-EU critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party has said he will not resign next month because the parliament was elected rigged.
Georgian President Salome Zurabichvili said she would not step down after her term ends because the parliament is “illegal,” but the prime minister warned of a “revolution” as pro-European Union protests continue.
Thousands of Georgians protested for the third night in a row on Saturday after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that his government would halt EU accession negotiations.
The goal of joining the 27-nation bloc is now enshrined in Georgia’s constitution, but the prime minister, who has close ties to Russia, suspended negotiations for four years and accused Brussels of “blackmail”.
Zurabichvili, a pro-EU critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said in a speech on Saturday that parliament would not have the right to choose a successor when his term ends in December and that he would remain in his post. .
The president, whose powers are largely ceremonial, said the October 26 election, won by Georgian Dream with 54% of the vote, was fraudulent and that the elected parliament was therefore illegitimate. claims.
“An illegitimate Congress cannot elect a new president because there is no legitimate Congress. Therefore, there will be no inauguration and my duties will continue until a lawfully elected Congress is established.” she stated.
Georgia’s election commission confirmed the ruling party as the winner earlier this month, but EU and US watchdogs and politicians have also suggested an investigation is needed to look into possible fraud. There is.
The interior ministry said Saturday that 107 people were arrested overnight in the capital Tblisi after some demonstrators erected barricades and threw fireworks at riot police who used water cannons and tear gas. .
The uproar was an attempt by Prime Minister Kobakhidze to stage a revolution similar to the Maidan protests that forced Ukraine’s pro-Russian president to step down in 2014, when people opposed to his government’s move to halt EU accession negotiations It happened because I accused him of being there.
“The Maidan scenario cannot materialize in Georgia. Georgia is a state, and of course the state will not allow this,” Kobakhidze was quoted as saying by local media.
The US State Department announced on Saturday that it had suspended its strategic partnership with Georgia following Georgia’s Dream Party’s decision to suspend its EU membership.
“We condemn the excessive use of force against Georgians who rightfully protest this betrayal of the Constitution. The European Union is a bulwark against the Kremlin,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller wrote of X.
“Therefore, we have suspended our strategic partnership with Georgia.”
Georgia gained independence from neighboring Russia in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but the two countries have not had diplomatic relations since a brief 2008 war over the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, backed by Moscow.
But the country’s application for EU membership had already stalled due to the Georgian Dream party’s efforts to forge closer ties with Russia.
The bloc said the law against “foreign agents” and LGBTQ rights is one of the main reasons for the impasse, as it suppresses human rights and is modeled on Russian law.
