Georgia has been in a state of emergency for weeks: a pro-Russian president will come to power in a few days. The fight for the country’s European future is coming to a head, writes Stephan Malerius from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Tbilisi.
This year, the central Christmas market in the Georgian capital Tbilisi will be decorated with a festively illuminated train with four carriages. He is said to have been appointed by the government of the Georgian Dream. The Christmas market is traditionally located in front of the Orbeliani Palace, the official residence of Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili. The train is a sign that her term of office will expire in a few days and that she has to vacate the presidential palace. Zurabishvili commented on the petty gesture with the words: “Well, let’s see who will get on the train…”
The renewed escalation between the government and the president concludes a deeply confrontational year for Georgia. First, in the early summer, despite weeks of protests, the Georgian Dream pushed a Russian-inspired spy law through parliament. Then the parliamentary elections in October were so brazenly rigged that the country fell into collective apathy for weeks.
However, when Prime Minister Iraqi Kobachidze announced at the end of November that he would suspend rapprochement with the EU until 2028, Georgia was shocked. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been protesting against the government every evening across the country, even in smaller provincial towns. The epicenter of the protests is in the capital Tbilisi.
Protest marches take place here every day, by lawyers and teachers, parents and students, by basketball fans and basketball players, employees of banks and energy companies, by cancer patients and dancers from the Philharmonic. The protests are organized horizontally, they are happy and angry at the same time. The driving forces are Europe and the rejection of Russia. “Your empire ends here” or “Burn Russia to the ground,” say two of the countless graffiti in the center of the capital that illustrate the protests.
While the dispute over Georgia’s alignment with Europe or Russia initially raged in front of the Georgian parliament and was characterized by fireworks, water cannons and tear gas, the dynamics of the protests have changed.
After days of brutal crackdown by security forces and now over 300 prisoners, people are now gathering every evening along the entire length of the central Rustaveli Street to meet friends and also protest against the government.
“After work, I go home, make a quick supper for the children, then I go to demonstrate,” is how an acquaintance describes her new everyday life. Two demands have now emerged: release of the prisoners and a repeat of the elections. This should help to reorganize Georgia.
Stephan Malerius has been head of the South Caucasus political dialogue regional program of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) since May 2022, based in Tbilisi, Georgia. In the past, among other things, he led the Belarus office of the KAS and coordinated several of the foundation’s EU projects.
The face of the protests is President Zurabishvili. Whether in the European Parliament in mid-December or among the protesters on Rustaveli – she is unwaveringly defying the government. She can’t wait to get rid of them.
In mid-December, an electoral college elected Zurabishvili’s successor: Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former soccer player who co-founded the right-wing populist “People’s Power” party two years ago, a pro-Russian, xenophobic and Eurosceptic political project that is not popular in Georgian society caught.
The first two congratulators after his election were Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Belarusian President Lukashenka, both repressive autocrats and notorious election fraudsters. Zurabishvili argues that Kavelashvili’s election is not legitimate.
