Georgian president calls government illegitimate, PM says opposition plots revolution
@Reuters
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili called the government illegitimate on Saturday and said she would not leave office when her term ends next month, defying the prime minister as he accused pro-EU opposition forces of plotting revolution, News.az reports citing Reuters.
The South Caucasus country was thrown into crisis on Thursday, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's Georgian Dream party said it was halting European Union accession talks for the next four years over what it called "blackmail" of Georgia by the bloc, abruptly reversing a long-standing national goal.
EU membership is overwhelmingly popular in Georgia, which has the aim of joining the bloc enshrined in its constitution, and the sudden freezing of accession talks has triggered large protests in the mountainous country of 3.7 million people.
In an address on Saturday, Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of Georgian Dream whose powers are mostly ceremonial, said parliament had no right to elect her successor when her term ends in December, and that she would stay in post.
Zourabichvili and other government critics say an Oct. 26 election, in which Georgian Dream won almost 54% of the vote, was rigged, and that the parliament it elected is illegitimate.
"There is no legitimate parliament, and therefore, an illegitimate parliament cannot elect a new president. Thus, no inauguration can take place, and my mandate continues until a legitimately elected parliament is formed," she said.
Earlier, Kobakhidze accused opponents of the halt to EU accession of plotting a revolution, along the lines of Ukraine's 2014 Maidan protest, which ousted a pro-Russian president.
"Some people want a repeat of that scenario in Georgia. But there will be no Maidan in Georgia," Kobakhidze said.
The country's Interior Ministry said on Saturday it had detained 107 people in the capital, Tbilisi, overnight during a protest which saw demonstrators build barricades along the central Rustaveli Avenue, and hurl fireworks at riot police, who used water cannon and teargas to disperse them.
Georgia's domestic intelligence agency, the State Security Service, said "specific political parties" were attempting to "overthrow the government by force".
The South Caucasus country was thrown into crisis on Thursday, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's Georgian Dream party said it was halting European Union accession talks for the next four years over what it called "blackmail" of Georgia by the bloc, abruptly reversing a long-standing national goal.
EU membership is overwhelmingly popular in Georgia, which has the aim of joining the bloc enshrined in its constitution, and the sudden freezing of accession talks has triggered large protests in the mountainous country of 3.7 million people.
In an address on Saturday, Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of Georgian Dream whose powers are mostly ceremonial, said parliament had no right to elect her successor when her term ends in December, and that she would stay in post.
Zourabichvili and other government critics say an Oct. 26 election, in which Georgian Dream won almost 54% of the vote, was rigged, and that the parliament it elected is illegitimate.
"There is no legitimate parliament, and therefore, an illegitimate parliament cannot elect a new president. Thus, no inauguration can take place, and my mandate continues until a legitimately elected parliament is formed," she said.
Earlier, Kobakhidze accused opponents of the halt to EU accession of plotting a revolution, along the lines of Ukraine's 2014 Maidan protest, which ousted a pro-Russian president.
"Some people want a repeat of that scenario in Georgia. But there will be no Maidan in Georgia," Kobakhidze said.
The country's Interior Ministry said on Saturday it had detained 107 people in the capital, Tbilisi, overnight during a protest which saw demonstrators build barricades along the central Rustaveli Avenue, and hurl fireworks at riot police, who used water cannon and teargas to disperse them.
Georgia's domestic intelligence agency, the State Security Service, said "specific political parties" were attempting to "overthrow the government by force".
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