Georgian President Salome Zourabichvil has announced that she will not resign even though her term has expired. She has declared the elected parliament invalid, alleging fraud in the October 26 election.
She said the "illegal" election should be annulled and new elections should be held. The illegitimate parliament has no right to elect her successor when its term ends in December and therefore she will remain in office.
This was reported by the international media Al Jazeera on Saturday (November 30).
According to the report, thousands of Georgians protested for a third consecutive night on Saturday after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's government announced that it would suspend talks on joining the EU.
Although the goal of joining the 27-member bloc is enshrined in Georgia's constitution, the current prime minister, a close ally of Russia, has accused Brussels of "fraud" by suspending four years of talks.
In a speech on Saturday, Zurabishvil, a pro-EU critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said parliament had no right to elect her successor when her term ends in December and that she would remain in office.
“There is no legitimate parliament, and therefore, an illegitimate parliament cannot elect a new president,” she said. Thus, there can be no inauguration, and my mandate will continue until a legitimately elected parliament is formed.
Georgia’s election commission declared the ruling party the winner earlier this month. But EU and US watchdogs and politicians have also suggested an investigation is needed to investigate possible fraud.
The country’s interior ministry said 107 people were arrested in the capital Tbilisi during the protests. Protesters set up barricades and threw fireworks at riot police, who also used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters.
The US State Department said on Saturday that the United States has suspended its strategic partnership with Georgia after the Dream Party decided to suspend its EU membership bid.
“We condemn the excessive use of force against the Georgian people. They are protesting this betrayal of their constitution,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller wrote in an email.
“That is why we have suspended our strategic partnership with Georgia.”
Georgia gained independence from neighboring Russia in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the two countries have not had diplomatic relations since a brief war in 2008 over the Moscow-backed regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
But the Georgian Dream Party, which has sought closer ties with Russia, has already suspended the country’s EU membership bid.