Georgia’s pro-Western president says she will remain in office until new elections are held to replace the country’s “illegitimate” anti-West parliament, which withdrew from talks to join the European Union, sparking mass protests.

President Salome Zourabichvili, who was set to be replaced by the opposing parliament Dec. 14, said she is following the will of the people by staying to oversee new elections — after four consecutive days of protests following allegations that last month’s parliamentary elections were fixed and the ruling body then dashing hopes for Georgia to join the EU.

The president’s move will likely set up a new political showdown between her and the Moscow-aligned parliament.

“What we’re seeing today is really the civil society taking over because the state is falling apart,” Zourabichvili told the BBC over the weekend.

“I’m offering this stability for the transition, because what these people on the streets are demanding is a call for new elections in order to restore this country and its European path,” she added.  

Thousands of demonstrators in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and other cities across the country continued to march Sunday, clashing with police and throwing fireworks in demonstrations aimed against the pro-Russian parliament.

The protests carried on despite violent clashes where crowds were met by riot police firing water cannons and tear gas.

The governing Georgian Dream Party, which has been in power since 2012, has been accused of fixing elections while trying to move away from the EU and align the country with Moscow, which briefly invaded Georgia in 2008.

Zourabichvili accused the ruling party of removing any independent institution in the nation and steering Georgia under its pro-Russian whims.

“I am president because I’ve been elected by the people, and I’m president until the time when it’s inauguration for a president who is legitimately elected by a legitimately elected parliament,” she said of her plan to remain in office.

The European Parliament issued a resolution Thursday slamming the ruling party as responsible for the “worsening democratic crisis” in the nation, echoing allegations that the party engaged in voter intimidation and manipulation in its bid for control over the country.

After the resolution, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze decided to throw out talks of joining the EU “until the end of 2028.”

Kobakhidze accused the pro-Western opposition of planning a coup, and the State Security Service said political parties were attempting to “overthrow the government by force.”

The prime minister claimed 50 officers were injured in the protests by people who allegedly “threw Molotov cocktails, pyrotechnics, glass, stones at the police.”

The US has slammed the decision to suspend the process of joining the EU, with the Biden administration saying it “goes against the promise to the Georgian people enshrined in their constitution to pursue full integration into the European Union and NATO.”

American officials said Saturday that the US was suspending its strategic partnership with Georgia over the “anti-democratic actions.”

Georgia’s ambassadors to Bulgaria, Netherlands and Italy have also resigned in protest of their government’s decision.

With Post wires

A string of top officials including the Georgian ambassadors to Italy, the Netherlands and Lithuania have resigned in protest at the move, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister Temur Janjali.

“What we see is this resistance has really gone beyond previous public demonstrations,” said Tinatin Akhvlediani, a senior researcher with the EU foreign policy unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies. “The ruling Georgian Dream party is in trouble because it’s difficult to see how they can justify making this announcement given widespread support for joining the EU, and it looks like they will use all their forces to silence people.”

On Saturday night, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili — who has previously accused Georgian Dream of rigging October’s parliamentary elections — insisted the government had “no mandate” to stay in power. The unrest, she said, “is not a revolution, it is stability,” and called for the EU to step in to oversee a new round of voting.

In a resolution passed on Thursday, the European Parliament agreed that the election had been “neither free nor fair,” echoing concerns from international election observers who warned the process had been marred by intimidation and vote buying. Georgian Dream was returned to power with a sizeable majority despite growing concerns over its break with the EU — and broad public support for joining the bloc.

Speaking to POLITICO, Nathalie Louiseau, a French MEP and vice-chair of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association, said the bloc’s new leadership — foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas, incoming European Council President Antonio Costa and enlargement boss Marta Kos — need to rise to meet the challenge. “I would strongly encourage them to go to Tbilisi, meet with the President and the protesters, and ask for new elections,” Louiseau said.

EU officials announced in July that Georgia’s membership application had been frozen after the ruling party introduced a string of Russian-style legislation, branding Western-backed NGOs as ‘foreign agents’ and cracking down on LGBTQ+ rights. Authorities used force to dispel crowds protesting against the rules, deploying tear gas and batons, while opposition figures were detained and beaten.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Georgian Dream politicians and police chiefs over the violence.

The U.N.’s special rapporteur on freedom of assembly, Gina Romero, said reports of police violence over the weekend were “disturbing” and called on Georgian Dream “to respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.”

Georgians protesting the government’s decision to delay European Union membership talks clashed with security forces outside parliament in the capital Tbilisi on Saturday evening.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets for the third night in a row. The protests, which have seen over a hundred arrested, have been the biggest since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in October’s contested parliamentary elections.

What happened at the protests?

Police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and used water cannons in an effort to disperse the rallies. Protesters outside parliament used fireworks, with flames reportedly seen coming out of a parliament building window.

Some of the protesters set up barricades on Tbilisi’s main avenue. Others on the steps of parliament burned an effigy of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Dream party’s founder and Georgia’s richest man.

“I am afraid — I won’t hide it — that many people will get injured, but I am not afraid to stand here,” 39-year-old Tamar Gelashvili told the French AFP news agency near the parliament building earlier in the day.

The Interior Ministry said that “the actions of some individuals present at the protest became violent shortly after the demonstration began.”

“Police will respond appropriately and in accordance with the law to every violation,” it said.

Protests also took place in various other cities across Georgia.

Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze had accused the pro-EU opposition of plotting a revolution, while the State Security Service said political parties were trying to “overthrow the government by force.”

EU membership is a highly popular goal in the former Soviet republic. Tbilisi is flooded with EU flags, often placed by residents at their own windows.

“The people of Georgia are trying to protect their constitution, trying to protect their country and the state, and they are trying to tell our government that rule of law means everything,” protester Tina Kupreishvili told the Reuters news agency outside parliament.

rmt/wd (AFP, Reuters)