Pushing the anti-Western Kabelaşvili into the presidency despite his lack of higher education and his football experience there “was a farce,” Rasa Juknevičienė, a Lithuanian member of parliament, told X. She visited Georgia this Thursday together with the European Parliament delegation. “Like Russia, Belarus and other autocratic countries.”
Local media reported protesters standing outside the Capitol protesting that the popular vote, which was last held in 2018, was replaced by the Electoral College, and that Georgia Dream’s takeover of Congress was based on unfair parliamentary elections in late October. It was reported that it was paid.
Georgia has been experiencing political upheaval for months, including when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s Georgian Dream won contested elections. Zourabichvili said the election was a “fraud.”
The government subsequently excluded the country from the European Union accession process, sparking mass protests in Tbilisi and other cities. Protesters and activists experienced violence, arbitrary arrests, and other intimidation tactics.
The EU called on Tuesday to respect the wishes of Georgians to become members of the bloc, saying: “We call on the Georgian Dream to alleviate and end this environment that imposes serious costs on the Georgian people.” Ukraine and several EU countries imposed sanctions on Georgia’s government this month.
Kobakhidze insisted Saturday that his government was ready to do whatever it took to make Georgia a member of the European Union.
Georgian Dream also introduced a Russian-style foreign agents law that sparked protests in early 2024 and drew a sharp rebuke from Zourabichvili.
