TBILISI: Georgia’s ruling party is set to appoint a far-right loyalist as president on Saturday in a controversial election process, amid a deepening constitutional crisis and weeks of mass pro-EU protests.
The Black Sea nation has been in turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in contested October parliamentary elections.
Its decision last month to delay European Union membership talks ignited a fresh wave of mass rallies.
The opposition has denounced Saturday’s election as “illegitimate” and said sitting President Salome Zurabishvili remains the country’s sole legitimate leader.
Pro-Western Zurabishvili – who is at loggerheads with Georgian Dream – has refused to step down and is demanding new parliamentary elections, paving the way for a constitutional showdown.
On Saturday morning, protesters began gathering outside the parliament building, which was cordoned off by police forces.
An electoral college controlled by Georgian Dream and boycotted by the opposition convened in parliament to install former footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili as president.
Demonstrators shared tea to keep warm on the frosty morning, with water cannons parked nearby, an AFP reporter witnessed.
“Georgia never loses its sense of humor, celebrating the election of a footballer as president,” Zurabishvili wrote on social media.
She shared video footage of protesters playing football in the snow – a clear jab at Kavelashvili.
One of the protesters, 40-year-old Natia Apkhazava, said she arrived early “to protect our European future.”
“Our (parliamentary) election was rigged. We need new elections,” she said.
“We have been protesting here for 16 days... and we’ll keep fighting for our European future.”
Protests are scheduled to take place at a dozen of different locations in Tbilisi.
Thousands of pro-EU demonstrators filled the streets of the capital Tbilisi on Friday, before gathering outside parliament for the 16th consecutive day.
A former diplomat, Zurabishvili is a hugely popular figure among protesters, who view her as a beacon of Georgia’s European aspirations.
“What will happen in parliament tomorrow is a parody. It will be an event entirely devoid of legitimacy, unconstitutional and illegitimate,” Zurabishvili told a press conference on Friday.
Opposition groups accuse Georgian Dream of rigging the October 26 parliamentary vote, backsliding on democracy and moving Tbilisi closer to Russia – all at the expense of the Caucasus nation’s constitutionally mandated bid to join the European Union.
Kavelashvili, 53 – the sole candidate for the largely ceremonial post – is known for his vehement anti-West diatribes and opposition to LGBTQ rights.
Georgian Dream scrapped direct presidential elections in 2017.
With Zurabishvili refusing to leave office, opposition lawmakers boycotting parliament and protests showing no signs of abating, Kavelashvili is likely to see his presidency undermined from the onset.
One author of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, has argued that all decisions by the new parliament are void.
This is because it ratified the mandates of newly elected lawmakers before the outcome of a court case filed by the incumbent president contesting the elections, he explained.
“Georgia is facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis,” Khmaladze said.
It remains unclear how the government will react to Zurabishvili’s refusal to step down after her successor is inaugurated on December 29.
Police have fired tear gas and water cannons during more than two weeks of demonstrations and arrested more than 400 protesters, according to the Social Justice Center NGO.
On Friday, Amnesty International said protesters had faced “brutal dispersal tactics, arbitrary detention and torture.”
There have also been raids on the offices of opposition parties and arrests of their leaders.
As international condemnation of the police crackdown mounted, French President Emmanuel Macron told Georgians their “European dream must not be extinguished.”
“We are by your side in supporting your European and democratic aspirations,” he said in a video address.
Earlier this week, Macron called Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili – the tycoon widely considered to be Georgia’s real power broker.
His decision to call Ivanishvili – rather than Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze – is indicative of the West’s hesitancy to recognize the legitimacy of Georgian Dream’s new government.
Washington has also imposed fresh sanctions on Georgian officials, barring visas for around 20 people accused of “undermining democracy in Georgia,” including ministers and parliamentarians.