"December 14 – a critical day for Georgia" Expert opinions on Caliber.Az

The situation in Georgia remains tense. President Salome Zourabichvili, instead of de-escalating the tension, is actively calling for protests and refusing to recognize the results of the October elections. Zourabichvili's trip to Paris is another clear indication that external forces are interested in destabilizing Georgia. Meanwhile, the presidential elections are scheduled for December 14. For the first time, a new president will be elected by an electoral college. The only candidate is Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former footballer, current member of parliament, and representative of the ruling party Georgian Dream.

How will events unfold in Georgia? How will Zourabichvili, the opposition, and their external sponsors behave after December 14? Caliber.Az asked Georgian experts to answer these questions.

According to analyst and editor of the "European Perspective" project Beso Kurtanidze, with the support of the West, preparations for a revolution are underway in Georgia.

"Just a few days ago, President Zourabichvili called for schools to go on strike. On social media and television, the idea is actively promoted that the UN Declaration of Human Rights gives people the right to revolt. This was also mentioned by Jaba Ioseliani in 1992, when the government of Gamsakhurdia was overthrown," noted the political analyst.

According to him, after the elections, the situation was worsened by the European Parliament's resolution, which states that the international community does not recognize the elections held in Georgia and new elections should take place in a year.

"In other words, the decision to falsify the elections was made even before the creation of the European Parliament's commission, which is supposed to confirm this opinion; otherwise, the EU will find itself in an awkward position," the interlocutor emphasized.

As B. Kurtanidze notes, the West demands that Georgia release former president Saakashvili from prison, cancel the laws on foreign agents, and lift the ban on LGBT propaganda. In response to this resolution, the government of the Georgian Dream party announced the cessation of the negotiation process with the European Union.

"The President of France called the leader of the ruling party Ivanishvili, not the Prime Minister, i.e., the nominal head of state, about the current events in Georgia, and they spoke for an entire hour. According to the French presidential administration, 'Macron condemned the intimidation of civil society and opposition representatives, as well as the violence against peaceful protesters and journalists by the security forces. He called for the release of all detainees and the respect for freedom of expression and assembly.' In principle, all these words are typical of the French leader, nothing surprising.

But first and foremost, in my opinion, this phone call may be related to the presidential elections on December 14. The fact is that Salome Zourabichvili claims that the newly elected parliament is illegitimate and has no right to elect a new president. Therefore, she must remain president until new parliamentary elections are held. Zourabichvili has one task – to prevent the election of a new president. So on December 14, the opposition will do everything possible to prevent the parliament from convening. It will be a critical day," emphasized Kurtanidze.

According to political science candidate Teimuraz Garishvili, the West has removed all its masks and openly demonstrates its attitude toward Georgian society and its historical and political choices.

"In essence, we see events unfolding according to the Ukrainian scenario of previous years, which, with all due respect to the choice of the Ukrainian people, was largely actively directed by the West. Almost all the signs of an 'orange revolution' are present: the arrival of Western politicians and their calls to follow the Western course at rallies in Tbilisi, increasing political pressure from the EU and the US on the democratically elected government, and the development and accumulation of fears in Georgian society that without Europe and the US, Georgia will perish and be swallowed up by Russia.

Any Georgian politician can confirm that in recent years, the opposition has lost support among the population due to the unconstructiveness of its position, disorganization, and inability to develop a unified agenda. Now, the West is roughly and actively driving a wedge of distrust and aggression into our society, dividing it into separate groups, with protest sentiments artificially created by foreign political technologists. Otherwise, it is hard to explain why, during rallies, the crowd becomes increasingly aggressive and harsh. Unfortunately, there are all grounds to believe that President Zourabichvili has become the very puppet through which the West hopes to forcibly remove the democratically elected government and, in essence, impose its will on the Georgian people. One of the tools of the West's crude pressure now is President Macron – essentially a caricatured figure in contemporary politics: it is quite obvious that he will not bring peace to Georgia; on the contrary, he will fuel protest sentiments and make absurd statements.

So, making clear predictions about the situation in Georgia is quite difficult – we can see that the project of Western ‘orange’ interference in Georgia has been launched, and it will test Georgian society's resilience, actively using provocations and the ‘street revolution’ playbook," Garishvili concluded.