Georgia president calls parliament ‘illegitimate’, says will not step down
Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili said Saturday she would not leave office when her term ends next month, telling FRANCE 24 that the Caucasus country’s embattled government had no legitimacy because it was approved by an “illegitimate, one-party parliament”.
Georgia geared up for a third night of protests on Saturday after the country’s prime minister shelved talks on joining the European Union until 2028.
The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in a disputed October 26 parliamentary election that the pro-European opposition said was fraudulent.
President Salome Zourabichvili, whose role is largely ceremonial, said in an address on Thursday that parliament had no right to elect her successor when her term ends in December, and that she would stay in post.
“We are confronting today the stolen elections, the illegitimate parliament; and an illegitimate parliament cannot elect anything other than an illegitimate government and an illegitimate president,” Zourabichvili told FRANCE 24 shortly after her address.
“My mandate ends when the new legitimate president will be elected. That depends on new elections and it’s the main demand of people on the streets,” added the president, who rallied with protesters in Tbilisi this week.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's announcement on Thursday that Georgia would not seek accession talks with the EU until 2028 ignited a furious reaction from the opposition.
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