The outgoing head of state, Salomé Zourabichvili, breaking with the government, announces that she is leaving the presidential palace but promises to continue the mobilization. Many demonstrators waved European Union flags
Ceremony behind closed doors
Former footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili, elected by parliamentarians, was inaugurated president this Sunday morning.
IRAQI GEDENEDIZE/AFP
In this context, ex-footballer Mikheïl Kavelashvili, known for his ultra-conservative 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.
The inauguration of the new president “will have no meaning,” assured a demonstrator, Natia, 27, a graduate in political science. “Kavelashvili will never be president of Georgia. Just like the Georgian Dream will never be the leading force in the country, because it is not a legitimate government,” she said.
GIORGI ARJEVANIDZE / AFP
Outgoing Salome Zurabishvili claims to be the only legitimate president. She was elected by universal suffrage.
The president refuses to hand over
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 Zourabichvili’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, affirming that it “will remain loyal” to him 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.
400 people arrested
More than 400 people were arrested, including opposition leaders, and dozens of police officers were injured. The Georgian human rights commissioner, Levan Iosseliani, reported “torture” of detainees by law enforcement.
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.
