TBILISI, December 22. /TASS/. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has called on the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party to appoint snap parliamentary elections before December 29, her last day in office.

"Those who want a good outcome for the country please come to the [presidential] palace. Let Ivanishvili (the ruling party’s founder - TASS) come too as he is the one who rules everything and I am ready to sit down at a negotiating table to decide when elections will be appointed. But the election date needs to be agreed before December 29," she told a protest rally in downtown Tbilisi.

She also promised to announce her further plans on Monday.

Earlier on Sunday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned Zourabichvili against seeking to appoint new parliamentary elections, saying that this might be fraught with criminal liability for her. According to Kobakhidze, parliamentary elections in Georgia are organized in three cases: rerun elections are appointed when the Central Election Commission of the Constitutional Court annul the results of elections; regular elections are held when the four-year mandate of lawmakers expires; and early elections are appointed when parliament votes no-confidence to the government. If the president ventures to appoint new parliamentary elections due to any other reason, she will face criminal charges, he added.

 

Elections and protests

 

Georgia held its parliamentary election on October 26, with 18 parties involved, including the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party, which has been in power for 12 years. According to the final data from the country’s Central Electoral Commission, the ruling party secured 53.93% of the vote and won 89 seats in parliament, allowing the Georgian Dream to form a government independently. Additionally, the Coalition for Change (11.03%) won 19 seats, the Unity - National Movement (10.17%) - 16 seats, the Strong Georgia coalition (8.81%) - 14 seats, and the Gakharia For Georgia party (7.78%) - 12 seats.

President Salome Zourabichvili and all the opposition parties refuse to recognize the election results, slamming them as rigged. Since November 4, Georgia’s opposition has been staging protest actions demanding rerun elections.

Another wave of protests was sparked by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's statement on November 28 when he said that the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party had decided to postpone any talk about launching accession negotiations until late 2028 and decline any funding from the European Union. According to the premier, the decision comes after repeated attempts by the EU to blackmail Georgia with promises of launching the talks in exchange for Tbilisi revoking certain laws passed by the country’s parliament, and calls for sanctions against Georgian authorities.

According to Zourabichvili, a snap parliamentary election is the only way put of the current situation. Georgia’s new President Mikhail Kavelashvili, who was elected by the electoral college on December 14, will be inaugurated on December 29 and the incumbent president’s office term will expire on the same day. However, Zourabichvili insists on continuing as president.