Thousands rally in Georgia as PM rebuffs calls for new election

TBILISI: Thousands in Georgia took part in a fourth straight day of protests on Sunday (Dec 1) against a government decision to shelve EU membership talks, as the prime minister rebuffed calls for new elections.

The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in October 26 parliamentary polls that the pro-European opposition said were fraudulent.

The opposition is boycotting the new parliament, while pro-EU President Salome Zurabishvili has asked the constitutional court to annul the election result and declared the new legislature and government “illegitimate”.

Critics accuse Georgian Dream, in power for more than a decade, of having steered the country away from the EU in recent years and of moving closer to Russia, an accusation it denies.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Georgia would not seek accession talks with the European Union until 2028, sparking a wave of protests in the capital Tbilisi and other cities.

About 150 demonstrators have been arrested in this latest wave.

Police in some instances have chased protesters through the streets, beating them and firing rubber bullets and tear gas.

Thousands waving European and Georgian flags gathered outside parliament on Sunday evening, with some banging on the metal door blocking its entrance.

“NOT MY GOVERNMENT”

Despite cold weather, young protesters, some of them teenagers, stood their ground for an hour under streams of water from fire hoses sprayed by police from the parliament courtyard on Sunday.

Police later deployed water cannons, but were unable to disperse the crowds.

“Georgian Dream is not my government. This is not Georgia’s government. This is a (pro) Russian government, and they must go,” said one of the demonstrators, 32-year-old bartender Alexandre Diasamidze.

Another protest took place outside the offices of Georgia’s Public Broadcaster (GPB), widely accused of acting as a propaganda tool for the ruling party.

The broadcaster conceded to the protesters’ demand to grant President Zurabishvili airtime, which it had previously denied her.

Simultaneous protests took place in cities across Georgia.

Fuelling popular anger, Kobakhidze ruled out new parliamentary elections, saying that “the formation of the new government based on the October 26 parliamentary elections has been completed”.

Earlier this week, the party nominated far-right former football international Mikheil Kavelashvili for the largely ceremonial post of president.

But Zurabishvili told AFP in an exclusive interview on Saturday that she would not step down until last month’s contested parliamentary elections are re-run.

“ONLY LEGITIMATE INSTITUTION”

Brussels has not recognised the outcome of the October elections and demanded an investigation into “serious electoral irregularities”.

The European Parliament has called for a re-run and for sanctions against top Georgian officials, including Kobakhidze.

Zurabishvili on Saturday said that she had set up a “national council” of opposition parties and civil society representatives, which would ensure “stability in this country”.

Calling herself “the only legitimate institution in the country”, Zurabishvili said that “as long as there are no new elections … my mandate continues”.

“Nobody outside Georgia, democratic partners, nobody has recognised the elections,” she added.

“I will be the representative of this legitimate, stable transition,” she said.

Constitutional law experts, including one author of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, told AFP that any decisions made by the new parliament – including the nomination of Kobakhidze as prime minister and the coming presidential election – would be invalid.

That is because parliament had approved its own credentials in violation of a legal requirement to await a court ruling on Zurabishvili’s bid to annul the election results, they said.

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION 

Hundreds of public servants, including from the ministries of foreign affairs, defence and education, as well as a number of judges, issued joint statements protesting Kobakhidze’s decision to postpone EU accession talks.

More than 200 Georgian diplomats criticised the move as contradicting the constitution and leading the country “into international isolation”.

A number of Georgia’s ambassadors resigned, while around 100 schools and universities suspended academic activities in protest.

After the October vote, a group of Georgia’s leading election monitors said they had evidence of large-scale electoral fraud.

The crackdown on protests has provoked international condemnation.

The EU’s new foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Sunday warned Georgian authorities over violence against demonstrators. 

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: “We condemn excessive force used against Georgians exercising their freedom to protest and have suspended our Strategic Partnership with Georgia.”

France, Britain, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania have also voiced concern.