President Zourabichvili Warns of Georgia's Existential Choice in Upcoming Elections: European Path or Russian Influence
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, stated that she is "ready to take on a great responsibility, including the [presidential] second term, for Georgia to return to the European path." Her current term is set to conclude in December. Moving forward, the President will no longer be elected through a popular vote but by Parliament, consisting of a 300-member electoral college made up of MPs, as well as local and regional authorities, a change introduced by the 2017 constitutional amendments.
In an interview with Le Figaro, the Georgian President discussed the upcoming parliamentary elections and their potential outcomes. She remarked that "we have to be ready for anything" from the government, including "the machinations," such as creating difficulties for Georgians abroad to vote, as well as exploiting administrative resources and propaganda related to the war or LGBT issues. Referring to polls, she predicted that the ruling party "will get no more than 25 percent."
Zourabichvili predicted that the pro-Western opposition would emerge victorious in the October elections. She mentioned the opposition, stating that it "cannot be united given the recent past, but it can be consolidated enough around the European idea to get the 50 or 60 percent of votes."
She also commented on the "foreign agents" law, emphasizing that it hasn't been labeled the "Russian law" without reason, as this is the law Putin used to control Russian civil society. Furthermore, she accused the Georgian government of attempting to "cut the country off from Europe" and turn it into a "Russian protectorate."
When asked how France and the EU could support Georgia, the President responded: "They should say and reiterate that what the Georgian government is doing is contrary to the European path." While she expressed that she was "not very much in favour of sanctions," she noted they could be misinterpreted by the public, adding that "it does not exclude the announcement of what will happen after the elections, if the pro-Russian orientation is confirmed."
The President emphasized that the upcoming elections are essentially a referendum on Georgia's European future.
"There is a very clear decision by the Georgian government to move closer to Moscow," Zourabichvili stated, highlighting that this became particularly evident after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She also pointed out that Georgian politics is currently dominated by GD honorary chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili, whom she referred to as an "oligarch." She said that Ivanishvili's ties with Moscow are "the most opaque."
"Georgia is facing an existential choice - to follow its European destiny with the parliamentary elections on October 26, or to return to the service of Russia, under a regime modelled on Putin's regime," the President said.
