President Salome Zourabichvili slams Georgia’s government as ‘illegitimate’

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Salome Zourabichvili was inaugurated as Georgia’s first female president in 2018. While her role as head of state may be largely ceremonial, her personal politics are not. She is staunchly pro-Western, sees Georgia’s future as part of the European Union and wants to see her country move out of Russia’s orbit. This has brought her into direct conflict with Georgian Dream, the populist pro-Russian party that has headed Georgia’s majority government since 2016.

Zurabichvili has publicly condemned some of the party’s more controversial pieces of legislation, refused to sign other laws, and now calls their rule “illegitimate” after disputed elections in October.

European observers on the day of the Oct. 26 election say they witnessed cases of voter intimidation and bribery at the polls, and the opposition, which later boycotted parliament, claims Russia interfered in the election process to ensure victory for Moscow-friendly Georgian Dream.

The EU condemned the process and asked for a repeat. In response, Georgian Dream said it was suspending accession talks until at least 2028.

The decision sparked a wave of unrest across the country that Zourabichvili sees as unprecedented. In an interview with Euronews, she explains more about what’s happening now and, more importantly, what’s happening next.

Do you think the current Georgian government is legitimate?

Clearly not. Because the elections that led to this parliament and government are not legitimate. Nobody recognizes them. First of all, the Georgian population did not recognize them. They were not recognized by the political forces in the country, because no opposition party recognized their victory in these partially rigged elections and no one entered the parliament. Therefore, it is one party and an illegitimate parliament.

Perhaps more importantly, our western democratic partners have not recognized them until now, and more than a month has passed. The European Parliament said that these elections are neither free nor fair and they call for new elections as we call here – for new elections.

The latest, highly provocative decision by this illegal, illegitimate government to turn its back on the European Union and turn its front to Russia is something that has sparked a huge protest movement in the country that has not stopped. Every day there are more and more people on the streets. And more importantly, real dissent is growing in the country. In state institutions, where people resign, or protest, or sign petitions, depending on which institution it is.

But basically, the entire public service is falling apart in the country because people don’t accept the decision of an illegitimate government to take an illegitimate direction for this country. The only one who will recognize, approve and congratulate them is the President of Russia Putin and the Russian Parliament.

What do you think the European Union can do for Georgia now?

The signal of non-recognition of these elections is very important. The resolution of the European Parliament is extremely important. I know there is a statement from 27 members that is being prepared on this situation. There are measures that are being prepared. What we need is strong support for new elections. We are not preparing for a revolution. We are preparing the transition to new elections, because it is a stable path for this country to move forward and return to the European path. That’s what people are looking for on the street.

They want two things: they want to keep their European future and they want new elections to have a stable, legitimate government in this country. I am the only independent institution left in a country that is not ruled by one party and one man. And I am also the president who is authorized by the Constitution — the president until the inauguration of the new president. And since the new president is elected by the parliament, and the parliament is illegitimate, the newly elected or so-called the president-elect cannot be inaugurated. And my mandate, therefore, stands.

So, we are in a transition period. It is very important that this transition is very stable. People around me, from civil society and from political parties, are trying with our European partners and with our American partners. I’m trying to lead this very stable transition.

I also know that today there is a statement from the United States. To strengthen the strategic partnership with Georgia. It is also a very strong signal. And this is what the Georgian population is certainly not ready to accept. And this is what they very calmly demonstrate on the streets.

And what is very important is that in addition to what I said about the disagreement of the public service, there is also the fact that all cities in Georgia have protests, which in my memory has never happened. Tbilisi has always been the center of everything. Today, all cities saw demonstrations. And it touches the economy. Business, which in this country has always been very loyal to any government and any regime, has seen today that a large number of big businesses are voicing their protests because they understand it. A European purse is the only one they want to see for this country.

What is the position of the state security forces and the judicial system?

The judicial system is very interesting, because basically one of the main problems of this country with the European Union or in recent years is that we do not have an independent judicial system.

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I filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court against the reading of the election, which they have not even met so far. But we have to try all the levels. That is the way, the constitutional way to do things. And there is always hope. But because it can always be that some members of these high courts at some point realize that the stability of the country is in their hands and the fate of the country.

So we have to try to put pressure on them for the security forces and portray that the police are on the side of the citizens because they are normal police that are trained and black people serve their masters. And ‘robocops’ are a state instrument that will go where the state will. So that’s what we have to watch.

Then there is the army, which is very quiet and must remain quiet, but it is very clearly on the side of the pro-Western forces, because they have been trained, formed, equipped over the past decades. And therefore, together with Americans and with European partners in international missions abroad. So it is very clear that they suffer a lot when they are told that their friends are suddenly not friends anymore.

There are some parallels with what is happening now in Georgia and the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine 11 years ago. Do you see any connections?

I think it is quite different because Georgians are not Ukrainians. We have a lot in common, because we were essentially facing the same enemy. But things are quite different because the Georgian character is very different and the disintegration of state institutions that we are witnessing now, including the church where we hear voices of dissent, which is unheard of, is something that is very specific. Even in Georgia, we have not seen this before.

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So we’re facing something very new and we’re part of something very new that’s happening geopolitically as well, I would say, where Russia didn’t easily win Ukraine over the past two and a half years, now it’s trying to win over the European Union with an election war. I would say it’s an election war. They waged this election war in Georgia and we are fighting it with constitutional means.

They are fighting the same election war in Romania. And they floated in Moldova, except that Moldova was saved by the diaspora. And in our case we were not allowed to use the votes of our righteousness for our members who are many. So that is Russia’s strategy. And it is very important for the European Union to understand that this is a strategy, a hybrid strategy to win over countries that do not want to go towards Russia in these perhaps more discreet ways. But it is clear that in Georgia, where we have a long experience of Russia trying to take over this country and we were very resistant to that, we will be resistant and make sure that we win. The will of the people.

So you say that Romania is a more similar case?

But similar because it’s about different tricks and different systems. And this is what shows a systemic approach that is highly adapted to each country. But the sudden appearance of these pro-Russian leaders that no one expected should be something that our European partners should think about, because this is how Russia tries to retain some of its influence. But we see that Russia is also losing in different places, like in Syria.