A month after the legislative elections won by the ruling Georgian Dream party and denounced by the opposition as tainted by irregularities, thousands of people gathered in Tbilisi and other cities in Georgia.
Georgian riot police fired tear gas on Friday against demonstrators protesting against the government’s decision to delay negotiations to join the European Union until 2028, AFP journalists noted. A month after the legislative elections won by the ruling Georgian Dream party and denounced by the opposition as tainted by irregularities, thousands of people gathered in Tbilisi and other cities in Georgia. In the capital, demonstrators waved flags of the European Union and Georgia and blocked traffic in front of the Parliament and the headquarters of the Georgian Dream, which they accuse of pro-Russian authoritarian drift.
Masked agents later fired rubber bullets in their direction and beat protesters and journalists present. Opposite, demonstrators erected barricades which they set on fire. Local media reported several arrests. The pro-Western president Salomé Zourabichvili, breaking with the government, denounced on “repression” which continued according to her at 6:30 a.m. local time (02:30 a.m. GMT): “Journalists and political leaders are targeted. I expect a firm reaction from European capitals”.
“Coup d’état”
Georgia has been going through a period of political turbulence since the contested victory of the Georgian Dream in the legislative elections at the end of October. The opposition boycotts the new Parliament and demonstrations follow one another, without bending the power. “The Georgian Dream did not win the elections, it staged a coup. There is no parliament or legitimate government in Georgia.said Chota Sabachvili, a 20-year-old protester. “We will not let this self-proclaimed Prime Minister destroy our European future”.
On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution rejecting the election results, denouncing “significant irregularities”. The text demands that a new election be organized within a year under international supervision and that sanctions be taken against senior Georgian officials, including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. In response, the latter, in office since February and confirmed Thursday by MEPs, accused the European Parliament and “certain European politicians” of “blackmail”. “We have decided not to put the question of membership of the European Union on the agenda before the end of 2028”he announced. However, he pledged to continue implementing the necessary reforms, ensuring that “By 2028, Georgia will be better prepared than any other candidate country to open accession negotiations with Brussels and become a member state in 2030”.
“Illegitimate” government
A former Soviet republic, Georgia officially obtained candidate status for membership in December 2023, but Brussels has since frozen the process, accusing the Georgian Dream government of carrying out a serious democratic setback. Following Mr. Kobakhidze’s statements, the president, who has only limited powers in Georgia, organized a “emergency meeting” with foreign diplomats. “Today the illegitimate government has declared war on its own people”she said during a press conference alongside opposition leaders. “I am the only legitimate institution, the only legitimate representative of this country”.
The president has filed a request to annul the results of the legislative elections with the Constitutional Court, which is unlikely to succeed. The Prime Minister, who already criticized the EU and the United States for wanting to drag Georgia into the war between Russia and Ukraine, asked Thursday, in front of the deputies, that Brussels “respects our national interests and traditional values”. Mr. Kobakhidze is considered a loyalist of the powerful billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the Georgian Dream and accused by his detractors of pulling the strings of national politics.
