TBILISI: Georgia is set to launch on Sunday a ruling party nationalist as chairman after his vote was declared “illegitimate” by the cheerful head and the pro-Western criticism.
Past player Mikheil Kavelashvili’s opening is expected to further escalate the social crisis which has seen large pro-EU presentations.
Since the government’s decision to postpone negotiations for European Union entry, and the disputed parliamentary elections from October, the Black Sea region has been in turmoil.
Hundreds have taken to the streets everyday for a fortnight, accusing the increasingly authoritarian government of derailing Tbilisi’s European Union charge, with a new march planned outside congress during Kavelashvili’s inauguration.
For the first time in Georgia’s story, the swearing-in ceremony will be held behind closed doors in the legislative chamber.
The far-right ex-Manchester City striker was appointed as the country’s second leader head on December 14 when an electoral school controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party took control of the country’s political school.
But cheerful President Salome Zurabishvili, whose authority ends with the fresh leader’s inauguration, has vowed to never step over until the government announces new legislative elections.
Opposition parties have refused to enter the recently elected parliament, while Zurabishvili has declared the government, the state and president-elect “illegitimate”.
Addressing tens of thousands of protesters next Sunday, she said that a re-run of the “illegitimate” vote would be the “formula to overcome like a issue”.
” Some years in prison”
A quarter of daily mass demonstrations are also taking place, and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s news on November 28 that Tbilisi wouldn’t ask for the initiation of EU accession talks until 2028 sparked a quarter of daily large rallies.
If Zurabishvili refused to leave the political castle, the Greek Dream’s reaction is still undetermined.
She is tremendously popular among activists who see her as a pillar of Georgia’s German desires.
Some have pledged to protect her from any attempts to eject from office.
Kobakhidze claimed that Zurabishvili’s inaction at the Orbeliani Palace “would be a criminal offence punished by many years of prison.”
Kobakhidze has described activists as “violent parties” controlled by a “liberal nazi” criticism and ruled out calling for new elections, echoing language used by the Kremlin about its democratic competitors.
In the first ten days of demonstrations, riot police dispersed protesters using tear gas and water guns, some of whom threw stones and lights.
The interior ministry reported more than 400 detention, while the country’s major human rights standard, watchdog Levan Ioseliani and Amnesty International have accused security forces of” torturing” those detained.
Pro-Russian bend
Washington and some European nations enforcing immigration bans on Georgian Dream authorities, which has heightened the level of international condemnation for the alleged police brutality.
On Friday, the United States imposed restrictions on Georgia’s former prime minister and the honorary president of Greek Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, saying he undermined the country’s political future for Russia’s profit.
Oligarch Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man, is widely regarded as the de facto leader of Georgia, despite holding no official status.
Next year, the United States and Britain slapped restrictions on Georgia’s interior minister and other top officials over a clampdown on pro-Western protesters.
Democratic law experts– including one writer of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze– have even said the fresh parliament, government and president-elect are “illegitimate”.
Because a court case regarding Zurabishvili’s attempt to have parliamentary poll results annulled was still pending at the time the chamber convened. The court eventually ruled the case inadmissible.
Since 2022, tenses have risen in Georgia as a result of the ruling party’s transition from its initially liberal, pro-Western agenda, which critics have criticized as an ultra-conservative pro-Russian tilt.
That has led Brussels to freeze Georgia’s EU accession process.
