Reuters, Europa Press

La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, December 14, 2024, p. 19

Tbilisi. The president of Georgia, Salomé Zourabichvili, assured yesterday that she has no intention of leaving office when her term expires.

I will not go anywhere, I will not leave anyone, I am here and I will be here, because this country at this moment needs a legitimate institution, which is truly elected and reflects the voice of this society and this countrystated the president. The election of a new president is scheduled for today, in an indirect vote through the College of Electors.

Zourabichvili became the voice of the protest movement that has been underway for weeks after the October vote that gave victory to the ruling Georgian Dream party and its subsequent announcement that it was suspending its efforts to join the European Union.

The president demanded that the elections held on October 26 be declared unconstitutional, which the country’s Constitutional Court rejected.

In that sense, the Parliament of Georgia yesterday revoked the right to state protection enjoyed by the president. The measure presented by the government party Georgian Dream went ahead with 85 votes in favor in the midst of a political crisis.

Likewise, it may also be applied to the prime minister and the president of Parliament if necessary. Zurabishvili reiterated that he has no intention of leaving office regardless of the outcome of the planned vote and despite the fact that his term ends next Wednesday, according to the country’s legislation.

Meanwhile, the United States will prohibit the issuance of visas to twenty people responsible for “undermining democracy in Georgia,” including government ministers, members of parliament and security officials, the State Department reported, without detailing names.

Hundreds of people have been detained in the country since nighttime protests broke out almost two weeks ago against the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to delay the former Soviet republic’s entry into the European Union.

In this sense, the Georgian Parliament banned the use of masks in demonstrations, as well as pyrotechnics and lasers, which are often used against the police and to disable surveillance cameras.