This Caucasian country is due to inaugurate a new anti-EU president loyal to the ruling party this Sunday, further aggravating the ongoing political crisis which has sparked weeks of large-scale pro-European protests.
Georgia has been in turmoil since the legislative elections of October 26, won by the Georgian Dream party but denounced as rigged by the pro-Western opposition which is demanding the organization of a new vote.
Supporters of this former Soviet republic's rapid accession to the EU have been organizing daily rallies for two months to protest against the government after it decided to postpone European integration efforts until 2028.
In this context, ex-footballer Mikheïl Kavelashvili, known for his ultraconservative and anti-Western positions, must take the oath of office on Sunday during a ceremony held for the first time behind closed doors in Parliament. He was elected president on December 14 by an electoral college controlled by the Georgian Dream. The president's prerogatives are limited in Georgia.
The current occupant of the presidency, Salomé Zourabichvili, in rupture with the government, has already announced that she would refuse to give up her mandate until new legislative elections have been organized, which the government refuses to do. TO DO. This former French diplomat joined pro-EU demonstrators on Saturday for a human chain which brought together several thousand people on the banks of the river crossing Tbilisi.
Western sanctions
The Georgian Dream for its part denies any fraud and accuses the opposition of wanting to provoke a revolution, according to it financed from abroad. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze proclaimed that Zourabishvili's refusal to leave the presidential palace “would constitute a criminal offense punishable by many years of imprisonment”, including for “anyone involved in such a scenario».
The outgoing president, for her part, called on the Georgian army this week, saying that it “will remain loyal» and that she «remains his commander-in-chief».
During the first ten days of protests in Tbilisi, police dispersed the crowds with water cannons and tear gas. Protesters, for their part, set off fireworks and threw stones and other objects at the police.
More than 400 people were arrested, including opposition leaders, and dozens of police officers were injured. Georgian Human Rights Commissioner Levan Iosseliani reported:tortures» of detainees by the police. Last week, the United States and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on several senior Georgian officials over the crackdown on pro-EU protesters. And on Friday, Washington announced that it had taken such measures against billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, considered to be the one pulling the strings of the Georgian Dream.
Beyond the current crisis, the Georgian Dream is accused by its detractors of having abandoned its initial liberal and pro-European program in favor of an authoritarian drift. In power for more than ten years, this party passed this year controversial laws inspired by the Russian legislative code, which target civil society and independent media and restrict the rights of LGBT+.
